{"id":50789,"date":"2025-12-03T06:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/50789\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T06:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T06:45:08","slug":"pittsburghs-people-of-year-2025-business-christina-cassotis-pittsburgh-city-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/50789\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh\u2019s People of Year 2025 \u2014 Business: Christina Cassotis – Pittsburgh City Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>, and Pittsburgh proud down to its smallest details \u2014 something Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis says is by design.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love things that tie this region\u2019s history to its future,\u201d Cassotis says.<\/p>\n

Cassotis\u2019 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. \u201cI 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,\u201d she tells Pittsburgh City Paper. \u201cWe\u2019re very, very curious and very interested in what works somewhere else that may work here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually bringing this lifetime of knowledge to bear on the new PIT terminal wasn\u2019t straightforward. \u201cWhen you\u2019re building super-complex critical infrastructure, it\u2019s always a challenge because you just have a lot of competing interests. And the most basic is [we were] running an airport while we\u2019re building one,\u201d Cassotis says. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s operating on a live patient.\u201d But a holistic approach to bringing the new landside terminal online has kept the new airport progressing smoothly since a COVID-induced delay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of that, Cassotis says airport staff has had the bandwidth to \u201csweat the small stuff,\u201d including countless artistic touches and updated wayfinding \u2014 the garage, for example, combines accessible signage with Pittsburgh lore. \u201cWe took a lot of time to work on universal access principles,\u201d Cassotis says. \u201cEach 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\u2019s called the City of Champions, and the symbol is a trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Christina Cassotis, CEO of Allegheny County Airport Authority, poses for a portrait at the new PIT landside terminal. Credit: Mars Johnson<\/p>\n

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\u2019s old baggage tunnel into part of the airport\u2019s \u201cgreen spine.\u201d Work on this and other outdoor spaces and airport sustainability (PIT is notably home to solar arrays and an on-site apiary<\/a>) continues to be a part of Cassotis\u2019 day-to-day following the terminal\u2019s public debut in November. While building the new terminal, the airport also became the first in the world<\/a> powered by a self-contained electrical microgrid. The airport authority is considering additional ways to bring sustainability to the skies next year and beyond.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bWe\u2019ve got our eyes on this sustainable aviation fuel, [which is] an ASTM-certified fuel that the U.S. Air Force has already flown with,\u201d Cassotis says. \u201cThis is a big deal.\u201d 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\u2019s opening weeks go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it\u2019s very much an ending, but it\u2019s a huge beginning, too,\u201d she says. \u201cI love being part of this, so I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in The Big Winter Issue: Winter Guide\/People of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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