While framed as a much-needed rightsizing, the transformation of Pittsburgh International Airport also feels like a coming-of-age project for the airport and the region. The new facility is spacious, studded with public art, and Pittsburgh proud down to its smallest details — something Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis says is by design.
“I love things that tie this region’s history to its future,” Cassotis says.
Cassotis’ family has deep roots in air travel. Her father was a pilot, and she spent a career in commercial aviation and airport consulting before coming to Pittsburgh in 2015. “I have seen a lot of different business models, different operational models, different commercial models, and I have seen what resonates with certain types of passengers, where frustrations are as a traveler, as a consultant, as somebody representing a leadership team,” she tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “We’re very, very curious and very interested in what works somewhere else that may work here.”
Actually bringing this lifetime of knowledge to bear on the new PIT terminal wasn’t straightforward. “When you’re building super-complex critical infrastructure, it’s always a challenge because you just have a lot of competing interests. And the most basic is [we were] running an airport while we’re building one,” Cassotis says. “I mean, it’s operating on a live patient.” But a holistic approach to bringing the new landside terminal online has kept the new airport progressing smoothly since a COVID-induced delay.
Because of that, Cassotis says airport staff has had the bandwidth to “sweat the small stuff,” including countless artistic touches and updated wayfinding — the garage, for example, combines accessible signage with Pittsburgh lore. “We took a lot of time to work on universal access principles,” Cassotis says. “Each level of the new terminal garage has a color, an icon, a name, and a number. So the fifth floor of the new terminal garage is, of course, black and gold, and it’s called the City of Champions, and the symbol is a trophy.”
Christina Cassotis, CEO of Allegheny County Airport Authority, poses for a portrait at the new PIT landside terminal. Credit: Mars Johnson
This attention to detail shows up everywhere in the new building, even in spaces closed to the public. Cassotis notes, for example, features to ease flight crew travel and conversion of the airport’s old baggage tunnel into part of the airport’s “green spine.” Work on this and other outdoor spaces and airport sustainability (PIT is notably home to solar arrays and an on-site apiary) continues to be a part of Cassotis’ day-to-day following the terminal’s public debut in November. While building the new terminal, the airport also became the first in the world powered by a self-contained electrical microgrid. The airport authority is considering additional ways to bring sustainability to the skies next year and beyond.
“We’ve got our eyes on this sustainable aviation fuel, [which is] an ASTM-certified fuel that the U.S. Air Force has already flown with,” Cassotis says. “This is a big deal.” She says work on sustainable fuel will ramp up in the first quarter of 2026. In the interim, she says the airport will be focused on collecting feedback from passengers and seeing how the new terminal’s opening weeks go.
“To me, it’s very much an ending, but it’s a huge beginning, too,” she says. “I love being part of this, so I’m not going anywhere.”
This article appears in The Big Winter Issue: Winter Guide/People of the Year.
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