Over 300 guests gathered at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) this past Saturday (11 October) for a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony commemorating the airport’s all-new terminal building.
The event, which was attended by airport leadership, airline partners, elected officials, community organisations, labour and construction teams, formed part of a full day of activities at the new terminal, including the terminal’s largest public event, the Community Open House, which was presented by F.N.B. and PNC.
Ribbon cutting began at 9:30am and was then followed by the Community Open House, which saw over 10,000 individual registered.
PIT recently held a Family and Friends Open House with airport staff, a gala on 3 October and a public trial with 300 guests last month. The next public trial is set to be held in the near future and feature 2,500 participants.
Ground was first broken on the project in 2021, and has received backing from PIT’s airline partners, all of which are covering the majority of the 1.7 billion USD cost. No taxpayer money has been utilised in the construction of the new building.
The new terminal forms the centrepiece of the airport’s transition from a simple hub to an origin-and-destination (O&D) airport. Over the last decade, PIT has increased its nonstop destination network from 36 destinations to 61, expanding its airline count from seven carriers to 15.
”U.S.—it’s a celebration of what can be accomplished by working together with vision and determination.”]”Today
Designed to capture the ‘essence of the Pittsburgh region’; the new terminal’s rolling roofline reflects the region’s hills, with its structural tree columns and leaf-patterned terrazzo flooring (created by artist Clayton Merrell) intended to reflect the region’s forests.
Inside, the terminal features more than 4,000 lights as part of its constellation lighting fixture, which aims to emulate the night sky.
Once operational, the new terminal is set to function as the ‘front door’ to Pittsburgh. Airport Industry-News was invited for a tour of the new terminal this past June.
