Separate corporate flight entrance eyed at Arnold Palmer airport

Those who take corporate flights out of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport someday may have their own designated entrance at the Unity facility.

A recently announced $150,000 state grant will help pay for engineering and design of the proposed corporate hangar access, but money isn’t yet in place to build the project, according to Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which operates the airport.

The new corporate access point likely would be located along Route 981, between the airport’s old runway and a beacon opposite the Kennametal headquarters, Monzo said.

“It would give them their own private entrance,” he said.

A key card might be used to regulate access to the new entrance, he said.

The grant comes from more than $6 million in state funding for projects at 26 airports.

Arnold Palmer Regional also is set to receive a $187,500 grant toward safety and communications upgrades. The money will go toward a new vehicle for use in security details and for upgrading antiquated radios in staff trucks, Monzo said.

The Aviation Development Program funding is expected to cover 75 percent of the project costs, with the airport authority covering the remainder.

The authority expects to receive two additional state grants for infrastructure and equipment improvements at Rostraver Airport, the other facility it oversees.

A $112,500 grant will help to extend water and sewage service to a group of older, smaller hangars at Rostraver.

“We’ve been wanting to get utilities back to them,” Monzo said. “There are no bathrooms there.”

Another $75,000 grant will be applied toward purchase of maintenance equipment, including a rotating, truck-mounted broom that will make clearing snow easier.

“When you use a broom, you can limit your use of chemicals quite a bit,” Monzo said.

Officials anticipate receiving the grant money this spring. They will have up to three years to spend it but noted their aim is to move projects forward as quickly as possible.

The authority approved a list of subcontractors Tuesday as initial work got under way on adding a second passenger bridge for those boarding commercial flights at the Arnold Palmer terminal building.

Authority engineer Scott Kunselman said a baggage tug area is being converted to a secure holding area for the new bridge, which isn’t expected to arrive for installation before spring. While the airport will continue to use its existing passenger bridge, the new one is better suited for larger Airbus planes Spirit Airlines uses for flights from Arnold Palmer, providing a more gradual slope between the terminal and the aircraft door.

ARCON Contracting is the general contractor for the bridge project, at a cost of $1.25 million, while Darr Construction is handling remaining contracts for the project — plumbing, $19,400; heating, ventilation and air conditioning, $21,275; and electrical, $59,600. Federal funds are covering the bulk of those costs.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.