Sneak peek: Inside Pittsburgh’s new state-of-the-art airport terminal

It is out with the outdated and in with the twenty first century at Pittsburgh Worldwide Airport (PIT).

That is the technique behind the foremost terminal redevelopment program underway at Pittsburgh’s once-bustling airport. The prevailing airport terminal, initially thought of fairly revolutionary when it opened in 1992, is only a shadow of what it as soon as was, at the least, by way of locations served.

Pittsburgh Worldwide Airport (PIT)’s present construction was designed primarily for hub operations. On the time, USAir (later rebranded as US Airways) had constructed Pittsburgh into considered one of its main bases. From PIT, US Airways may fly passengers to cities so far as Frankfurt and as shut as Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

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However US Airways dehubbed the airport in 2004, and that hub standing is “by no means coming again, ever,” Christina Cassotis, CEO of airport operator Allegheny County Airport Authority, advised TPG in an interview. (These days, PIT is served by 15 airways with 62 nonstop locations on greater than 170 peak-day departures.)

With no future as a hub, PIT had a alternative. It may maintain its current terminal construction with landside and airside operations cut up between two buildings linked by an almost half-mile underground tunnel and other people mover. Or, it may innovate and grow to be what airport officers envision as one of many nicest and most passenger-friendly origin-and-destination airports throughout the nation.

PIT selected the latter, and now we’re nearly a 12 months away from the opening of the Terminal Modernization Program. (Cassotis advised TPG to anticipate a proper opening within the third quarter of 2025.)

The $1.57 billion TMP mission contains an all-new headhouse that can function a centralized departures and arrivals corridor, Pennsylvania’s largest single parking construction and way more.

There’s heaps for passengers to get enthusiastic about, so be part of TPG on an unique tour of the TMP and browse on for what vacationers can anticipate as soon as the work wraps up subsequent 12 months.

Centralized departures and arrivals corridor

Assuming you’ve got been to PIT earlier than, you may probably do a double take while you arrive on the new departures space.

As you method the brand new facility from the roadways, your eyes will probably be mesmerized by the glistening new terminal constructing.

Departing site visitors will pull as much as the third degree of the construction, which has a big overhang ceiling to guard drop-offs from inclement climate. (This a part of the TMP jogs my memory of the not too long ago opened Kansas Metropolis Worldwide Airport (MCI) terminal.)

After getting dropped off on the terminal, there shall be three entrance vestibules for departures. As soon as inside, airport designers are hoping passengers shall be impressed by the soaring-high ceilings which might be formed like rolling hills and supply loads of pure mild.

Nature is among the key design themes of the brand new terminal (together with expertise and neighborhood), and it will even be on full show when you enter. Earthy wooden tones will cowl the ceiling finishes, and the lights will supposedly resemble a starry constellation at night time.

Plus, the assist beams that go from the bottom to the ceiling are designed to resemble timber from the western Pennsylvania forest.

Be aware that passengers utilizing ride-hailing providers shall be dropped off on Degree 1 of the brand new facility, however there shall be specific escalators to funnel passengers on to check-in.

All of the flooring within the new terminal is terrazzo, eliminating the outdated tiling within the current facility that wasn’t designed for the recognition of rollaboard luggage.

Whereas some new airports provide island-style check-in counters (like Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York Metropolis), PIT will persist with the normal counter-style check-in setup.

Earlier than heading to safety, passengers will go by way of the central atrium of the departures corridor. This ethereal house spans each the departures and arrivals ranges and shall be demarcated by the 1958 sculpture by Alexander Calder that shall be hung from the ceiling (and was once displayed prominently within the outdated terminal).

Revamped safety lanes

If you happen to’ve not too long ago handed by way of PIT within the morning, odds are you’ve got waited in a safety line. That is as a result of PIT was initially designed as a hub-and-spoke airport, with most passengers connecting within the facility post-security.

Nonetheless, with the shift to an origin-and-destination mannequin, PIT has been unable to maintain up with the demand for safety lanes.

Luckily, the brand new terminal may have a single centralized safety space with 11 lanes. This contains Clear, TSA PreCheck, household safety, precedence safety and basic screening.

The screening machines would be the newest fashions from Analogic (aka the famously sluggish blue machines.)

After clearing safety, you may discover a big regrouping space to recuperate your belongings (and composure).

Right here, you may additionally see floor-to-ceiling glass home windows with out of doors statement decks on all sides. Constructing on the character theme, PIT has plans for 4 whole out of doors statement areas: two airside and two landside.

Although there will not be a lot in the way in which of views from these decks, they need to present a calming retreat from the hustle and bustle of the airport itself.

Paul Hoback, PIT’s chief growth officer, advised TPG that when accomplished, these decks shall be lined with grass, timber and different greenery.

No extra folks mover

The prevailing PIT structure with separate landside and airside buildings implies that passengers have to take a folks mover between the amenities.

Nonetheless, the brand new departures and arrivals corridor is being constructed adjoining to the airside terminal. So, as an alternative of taking a folks mover, it will be only a quick stroll by way of a tunnel (designed to resemble town’s Fort Pitt Tunnel) to reach on the airport’s central artery.

This can undoubtedly velocity up journey instances from curb to gate — by as a lot as 50%, in accordance with Hoback — and in addition assist enhance the realm out there for concessionaires and retail shops. (The truth is, PIT was as soon as a revolutionary when it got here to airside purchasing. Earlier than 9/11, the airport’s AirMall would even entice locals who weren’t flying.)

Thus far, PIT has shared the record of 15 new retailers and eating places opening within the new terminal. Extra names are anticipated to be introduced as leases are finalized nearer to the grand opening.

Quicker arrivals

Not solely does the centralized terminal get rid of the folks mover for departures, but it surely additionally quickens arrival site visitors circulate. Going ahead, passengers will merely descend a brief escalator and stroll on to the arrivals curb.

In keeping with Hoback, this setup will cut back the time it takes to maneuver from worldwide arrivals to curbside by 67%.

As PIT tried to design the power for its neighborhood, the airport seemed on the information that confirmed that it has an enormous meet-and-greet inhabitants (family and friends members who drive to the airport to select up their family members). To accommodate these pickups and be a steward for the native inhabitants, the arrival space will characteristic a wide range of concessions and two out of doors decks (much like the airside ones mentioned above).

On the arrivals degree, there shall be eight baggage claims, all linked by a singular back-of-house baggage transportation system.

This upgraded system is designed to maneuver luggage way more effectively than the outdated one which PIT makes use of at present.

An all-new parking construction

When PIT was a hub, the airport wanted to optimize for connecting vacationers who merely stopped in Pittsburgh on their manner between two different cities. That meant parking buildings for native site visitors have been largely an afterthought.

Nonetheless, with the brand new PIT, parking grew to become a central tenet of the redevelopment mission, a lot in order that, in accordance with Hoback, the brand new terminal shall be house to the single-largest parking construction in Pennslyvania.

It will span 5 ranges with 5,000 areas. The rental automobile firms shall be stationed on the primary flooring of the power, eliminating the necessity to take a shuttle bus to a distant lot.

This new construction shall be linked to the primary terminal by a lined walkway, and it will characteristic triple the variety of lined parking areas in comparison with the prevailing buildings.

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Extra upgrades coming to gates

Whereas a lot of the main focus is on the departure and arrival expertise, modernizing the gate areas can also be a key precedence for Cassotis.

In spite of everything, “we do not need The Jetsons to fulfill The Flintstones,” Cassotis stated.

As a part of the TMP mission, the airport is renovating a number of the gates, bogs and holdroom areas within the current terminal.

That stated, a lot of the flooring and structure will stay precisely as they have been when US Airways had a hub there.

That is not essentially dangerous information for the reason that airport’s X-shaped structure makes for a brief stroll to any gate. However when you go by way of the brand new departures corridor, the tall ceilings will give approach to a facility that was designed for a bygone period.

Hopefully, PIT will proceed enhancing the gate areas over the approaching years.

Backside line

The brand new Pittsburgh airport terminal cannot come quickly sufficient. The airport is exhibiting its age, particularly now that it has been greater than 20 years since PIT was a hub for US Airways.

From the centralized safety space to the hovering ceilings that flood the power with tons of pure mild, this terminal is a night-and-day distinction from the prevailing one.

However the brand new terminal does not simply usher in a much-upgraded passenger expertise. It additionally helps kick-start what PIT officers hope shall be an period of the power being one of many nation’s prime midsize airports.

PIT has already been fairly profitable in courting new airways, most notably British Airways to London and Icelandair to Reykjavik. Plus, it processed simply shy of 10 million passengers final 12 months.

Quickly, it will even have a glossy, new terminal worthy of reward from airports nationwide. It is the beginning of a brand new chapter for PIT, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what comes subsequent.

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