Royal Canadian Air Force squad to buzz in for air show at Arnold Palmer airport

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds will be the featured act at the 2016 Westmoreland Air Show.

The Royal Canadian Air Force's aerobatics squad will fly into Westmoreland County in May to perform maneuvers for the thousands of people expected to attend the air show at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, officials announced Tuesday.

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.