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| The Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be the featured act at the 2016 Westmoreland Air Show. |
The air show is May 21-22, which is the
weekend the Canadian Forces Snowbirds were available to perform, said
Donald Rossi, a Westmoreland County Airport Authority member.
“It's great. It will be an international air show. They are very highly regarded and are a great bunch of pilots,” Rossi said.
The Snowbirds celebrated their 45th anniversary this year.
The squad flies the Canadian-designed and
built CT-114 Tutor jet trainer, according to the Royal Canadian Air
Force website. The jets have a maximum speed of 486 mph, compared to the
Navy Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornets, which flew at speeds of 600 mph
during the show in June.
Gabe Monzo, authority executive director,
landed the Snowbirds during the International Council of Air Shows this
week in Las Vegas. Rossi said Monzo is working to book other acts to
perform in the two-day show, which drew about 75,000 spectators this
year.
Rossi said the authority has booked the Blue Angels to return to the air show in 2017.
The Snowbirds were scheduled to perform in
1988 in Westmoreland County, but that show was canceled because one of
the pilots was killed and two were injured in a single-car crash after
the three attended a party in Ligonier.
The authority has budgeted about $300,000
for the show, Rossi said. Costs are offset by business sponsors and
donors, but the authority remains $10,000 to $15,000 in the red for last
year's show.
Airport flying high
Rossi reported the airport should top
360,000 passengers this year, the highest total since Spirit Airlines
began operations there in February 2011. The authority said 333,196
passengers were logged at the airport as of Nov. 30.
“That's a tremendous amount of people for this airport to handle. It's exceeded 1 million in four years,” Rossi said.
Spirit Airlines, a Florida-based low-cost
carrier, serves Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Fort Myers, Fla.,
and Myrtle Beach, S.C., from the airport in Unity. Spirit discontinued
service from the airport to Chicago and Las Vegas last month and stopped
flights to Dallas-Fort Worth in 2014.
“What happens in the future is under Spirit's control,” Rossi said.
