{"id":284154,"date":"2026-09-12T00:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284154\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T00:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T00:22:10","slug":"the-ripple-effects-of-sept-11-still-felt-at-pit-25-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284154\/","title":{"rendered":"The ripple effects of Sept. 11 still felt at PIT 25 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ripple effects of Sept. 11 still being felt at Pittsburgh International Airport 25 years later<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/a>PITTSBURGH \u2014<\/p>\n

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed air travel forever and are remembered vividly by current and former leaders at Pittsburgh International Airport.<\/p>\n

“Kennedy’s assassination, walking on the moon, 9\/11. Think about that. You never forget it,” said Kent George, the airport’s former executive director.<\/p>\n

George says he was in Montreal for a conference when he received the news of the attacks.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t even discuss it. We got a car, and we started driving back,” he said. He described how the calls never stopped, adding, “We had three phones in the car with three people in the car, and all phones, by the time we were done, were dead.”<\/p>\n

George expressed pride in the airport’s response to the attacks and reflected on the unity displayed during that time. <\/p>\n

“All the airlines, all the concessions, the local police, the county police, everybody came in and said, ‘How are we going to help these people?'” George said.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the attacks, travelers experienced increased security measures. The attacks also led airports, like Pittsburgh, to find that balance of safety with the customer experience. <\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that that experience is seamless, is easy, people know what to expect, so that Pittsburgh can keep seeing the world, and the world can keep discovering Pittsburgh,” said Brian Dietz, senior vice president of commercial development at the airport. <\/p>\n

Programs such as TSA PreCheck, CLEAR, the Transportation Security Administration gate-side program and, in Pittsburgh International Airport’s case, the MyPIT Pass were introduced to encourage people to fly again. <\/p>\n

The attacks also shifted the airport’s direction. “We felt that we now have to make sure that we transfer from what is called a hub airport, where US Airways is the main carrier, to what is called an owned airport origination and destination,” George said. <\/p>\n

That transformation was completed in 2025 with the opening of the new landside terminal.<\/p>\n

“The new terminal was not necessarily a nice-to-have. It was a must-do because of what happened starting all the way back 25 years ago to Sept. 11 with new security requirements,” Dietz said. “More people that are beginning and ending their trip in Pittsburgh than ever (are) now flying, and so our job is to make sure that infrastructure security-wise, demand-wise, is never going to limit the air service potential of this community.” <\/p>\n

Airport leaders emphasized their commitment to innovation while honoring the memory of 9\/11.<\/p>\n

“The story of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport is a comeback story. It’s the backup quarterback mentality of no matter what we’re faced with as a team, there is a way,” Dietz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ripple effects of Sept. 11 still being felt at Pittsburgh International Airport 25 years later PITTSBURGH \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[115842,4832,3855,4860,118527,2663,118526,23016,523,4528,73,75,6846,74,118528,3860,80467,110854,3839,526,13305,78],"class_list":["post-284154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-9-11","tag-air-travel","tag-airport","tag-attack","tag-brian-dietz","tag-car","tag-kent-george","tag-new-landside-terminal","tag-people","tag-phone","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-international-airport","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-ripple-effect","tag-security","tag-sept","tag-sept-11","tag-story","tag-time","tag-tsa","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}