Arnold Palmer Airport

Think it was Brian, who mentioned about two years ago the similarities between ORH and Arnold Palmer Airport (great website and all parking is free). Unlike ORH, however, Arnold Palmer Airport was able to recruit a legacy carrier (NorthWest) with two shuttles per day to their hub in Detroit. Note part of a story below how they utilized their Small Community Air Service Grant to lure a carrier versus spending over $200,000 on a consultant:


Northwest began flying out of the Unity Township airport in April 2005, replacing the daily service to Pittsburgh International Airport that US Airways stopped offering in July 2004.
Airport officials offered Northwest a financial safety net for the first year, having combined $100,000 in local dollars with a $600,000 federal grant to market the service and fulfill revenue expectations.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_458582.html


Airport officials say they have not yet received a bill for the empty plane seats. Starting last April, the Westmoreland County Airport Authority was no longer responsible to guarantee Northwest revenues. Monzo said Northwest officials visited Arnold Palmer last week.
"We talked over a lot of ideas. We're ready to move on to the next step, whatever that might be," he said.

Authority Chairman Oland Canterna added, "It was very encouraging. I thought it was a good meeting." Northwest spokeswoman Jennifer Bagdade said no service changes are on the horizon. "We're satisfied at this point," she said. "We have no plans to make any changes to our Latrobe schedule."