Passengers who want to sign up for the Transportation Security Administration PreCheck program can make an appointment to enroll through Friday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, said Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.
Those enrolled in the program can bypass some of the time-consuming steps at TSA security checkpoints at more than 200 participating airports, including Pittsburgh International and Arnold Palmer Regional in Unity.
They will not need to remove their shoes, belt or light jacket or take laptops and permitted liquids from their bag.
There is an $85 fee to enroll in the program for five years. Applicants are subject to a criminal background check.
Visit universalenroll.dhs.gov/programs/precheck to make an enrollment appointment.
Monzo noted Arnold Palmer Regional saw a drop in passenger numbers from July to August, largely caused by a rash of flights canceled by Spirit Airlines, the airport’s sole commercial carrier.
According to figures compiled by the authority, the airport had 14,644 passengers in August, fewer than half the 31,991 served in July.
Still, August’s passenger total was higher than any monthly figure recorded from April 2020 through February, when the initial period of the covid-19 pandemic cut heavily into air travel industrywide.
A large percentage of Spirit flights at Arnold Palmer and other airports it serves were canceled or delayed over a week early in August.
Spirit officials said the company was dealing with “overlapping operational challenges, including weather, system outages and staffing shortages” that resulted in “proactive cancellations.”
Spirit said in total it canceled 2,826 flights from July 30 through Aug. 9, which cost it about $50 million in revenue and caused spending to soar.
“They got their issues taken care of,” Monzo said. “They know what happened to the system, and they’re fixing their end.”
