First terminal (1952–1992) Construction Until the beginning of World War II, Moon Township was mostly a rural agricultural area. It was not considered a suburb of downtown Pittsburgh as it was too distant. It was served solely by Pittsburgh-based state and federal services and media. In the early 1920s, John A. Bell of
Carnegie purchased a number of small farms in Moon and established a commercial dairy farm on his of land. He was bought out by
Edward E. Rieck and his wife, and C.F. Nettrour, owners of the established Rieck's Dairy. They doubled the number of cattle at the farm. Around 1940, the federal government, through the
Works Progress Administration (WPA), determined that the Pittsburgh area needed a military airport to defend the industrial wealth of the area and to provide a training base and stop-over facility. The administration of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt was continuing to invest in infrastructure across the country in the waning years of the
Great Depression, before the US entered World War II, which had started in 1939. The agricultural expanses of Moon Township were attractive to airport planners in the city. The
Civil Aeronautics Administration proposed $2.6 million to the county for a $6 million field in August 1941 ($ and $ present day dollars). The county bought the Bell Farm, and federal agencies began construction of the runways on April 20, 1942, after the US had entered the war. In 1944, Allegheny County officials proposed to expand the military airport with the addition of a commercial passenger terminal to relieve the
Allegheny County Airport, which was built in 1926 and was becoming too small. Ground was broken on the new passenger terminal on July 18, 1946. The new terminal would eventually cost $33 million ($ present day dollars) and was built entirely by Pittsburgh-area companies. The new airport, christened as Greater Pittsburgh Airport opened on May 31, 1952. The first flight was on June 3, 1952. In its first full year of operation in 1953, more than 1.4 million passengers used the terminal. "Greater Pitt" was then considered modern and spacious. The
airport terminal was the largest in the United States, second only to Idlewild Airport's (now JFK Airport) in New York when it was completed five years later. The airport's capacity is one of its most valuable assets. The airport was designed by local architect Joseph W. Hoover. One of the features of his style is the use of simple, exposed concrete, steel, and glass materials. The terminal building was constructed in "stepped" levels: the first floor extended farther than the second, the second floor extended farther than the third, etc. Such a design meant that the uncovered roof of the lower level could be an observation deck. In addition to the observation decks, the rounded "Horizon Room" was on the fourth floor with a commanding view of the airport. The interior of the terminal building was in the contemporary
International Style, as was the exterior. One of the memorable features of the lobby was the large compass laid in the floor with green and yellow-orange terrazzo. A mobile by
Alexander Calder was another decorative feature of the lobby. The mobile hangs in the center core of the new airside terminal. A re-creation of the compass was installed in the new terminal at an exhibit dedicated to old "Greater Pitt".
Operations The first five airlines of the Greater Pittsburgh Airport were
Trans World Airlines (TWA), Capital Airlines (later part of United), Northwest, All American (later Allegheny Airlines, then
USAir, and finally US Airways), and Eastern Airlines. The April 1957 Airline Guide shows 58 weekday departures on Capital, 54 TWA, 18 Allegheny, 8 United, 7 Eastern, 4 Northwest, 3 American and 2 Lake Central. The first jets in service at Pittsburgh were TWA 707s on a Los Angeles-Chicago-Pittsburgh loop in summer 1959. The 1956 diagram shows runway 10/28 7500 ft, 5/23 5766 ft and 14/32 5965 ft. The longest runway was still 7500 ft when jets started in 1959 but was soon extended to 8000 ft. The 10500-ft runway 10L was added by 1965. In 1959, the east dock was added to the terminal. On July 1, 1968, international airport status was obtained with the dedication of the first customs office at the complex. Ground was broken for the International Wing, west of the original terminal building, in 1970. It opened in 1972 to accommodate federal inspection services; international flights (Nordair 737s to Canada) began in 1971. The airport expanded as load increased. In 1972,
rotundas were added to the end of each dock to allow more gates. In 1972, upon the opening of the international arrivals building, the airport was renamed Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. In the later 1970s growth in regional air travel created a need for more gates. In 1980 the South East Dock was opened. Even with these expansions, the terminal was too small. From the 1960s to about 1985, TWA operated a small hub at Pittsburgh. The carrier introduced service to London's Gatwick Airport on a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar in 1981. This was the first route from Pittsburgh to Europe. It lasted four months; TWA stated that too few passengers were traveling in first class, rendering the service unprofitable. In May 1985,
British Airways started a link to London's Heathrow Airport via Washington, D.C., using Boeing 747s. Two days before the maiden flight, the airline had sent one of its
Concordes to Pittsburgh to celebrate the launch of the route. USAir inaugurated a link to Frankfurt in 1990. The flight aboard Boeing 767s benefited the various West German companies that had offices in the city.
Second terminal (1992–2025) US Airways hub US Airways (previously known as USAir until 1997) had a major presence in Pittsburgh since they began passenger service in 1949. As the company grew nationally and acquired several airlines, they kept their operations and maintenance base in Pittsburgh and the airport was a major hub for the airline. A new terminal was discussed as early as 1969 but tabled in favor of expanding the existing terminal. The huge increases strained capacity at the existing airport, which had 53 gates, 33 of which were occupied by USAir. In 1988, USAir departures accounted for 86% of all operations at the airport. USAir and Allegheny County Airport Authority agreed on a massive expansion, called the Midfield Terminal Project, which broke ground in 1987 with financial backing from USAir and cost $1 billion. The new airport was split into an airside terminal containing the gates and a landside terminal for ticket counters, security, and baggage claim. The split design would allow for potential expansion to the west side of the airside terminal, and the two buildings were connected via an underground tram. The airside terminal was built for 76 total gates configured in an X-shape to accommodate the largest number of aircraft In addition to the main airside and landside terminals, to the west of the landside terminal a separate commuter terminal was constructed for small planes on short routes (which later became the alternate security checkpoint). The old terminal would be kept until 1999 to house remaining operations offices. On October 1, 1992, the new terminal opened to rave reviews, dubbed the "airport of the future" by the
New York Times. The new terminal had numerous innovative features, including a cutting-edge underground tram and an AirMall, with more than 100 retailers and eateries. The AirMall was open to local residents who were not flying and tenants were required to abide by "street pricing", prohibiting them from charging more for items or food than they did at locations outside the airport. The modern and innovative Pittsburgh airport became a model for other airports around the world. Its design simplified aircraft movement on the airfield and enabled easy pedestrian traffic to the gates. USAir expanded operations with the new airport, and by 1995 they had nonstops from PIT to 91 airports, plus 28 more on USAir Express, and occupied 53 of 76 gates. In 1997 the airport handled almost 21 million passengers, more than any previous year. showing Pittsburgh International Airport, a
Class B airport, and its surrounding areas and flying restrictions In August 2001, the airport had its busiest month ever with 2 million passengers and an average of 633 daily flights, and was on track for 2001 to be its busiest year ever. Then the
September 11 attacks harmed the aviation industry, and US Airways in particular, setting in motion the decline of Pittsburgh as a hub. US Airways began slashing jobs a week after the attacks and filed for
chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2002. High operating costs at the airport put the US Airways hub in Pittsburgh at a serious disadvantage. By 2003, US Airways was reported to be running a $40 million loss per year ($ present day dollars) operating its hub at Pittsburgh, while also paying roughly 80% of the new airport's $673 million debt ($ present day dollars) stemming from its requested construction of the new terminals. Just before emerging from bankruptcy in 2003, US Airways canceled its leases at Pittsburgh without any notice to airport and county officials, a move that former Allegheny County Airport Authority executive director said was "completely immoral and unethical" in a 2021 interview. Two months later, the carrier ceased service to London-Gatwick and Frankfurt, leaving the airport without any flights to Europe. After failed negotiations to lower landing fees and debt obligations, the airline announced in December 2004 that it would be reducing operations at Pittsburgh, shifting hub operations to Charlotte and Philadelphia. By the end of 2005, the airline had eliminated 7,000 jobs while continuing to operate roughly 200 flights per day, mostly domestic. A year later, US Airways had only about 170 flights per day to and from Pittsburgh, most being domestic flights. Unrelenting flight and job cuts continued through the decade; accompanied by the airline's closure of Concourse E on the Landside Terminal and a portion of Concourse A on the Airside Terminal. In 2007, US Airways' market share in Pittsburgh dropped below 40% for the first time since the airport's expansion in 1992. Pittsburgh's air traffic bottomed out in 2013 with 7.8 million passengers and 36 destinations. The center worked on emergency operations for
US Airways Flight 1549 after it landed in the
Hudson River. The airline closed the center in 2015 as part of its merger with American Airlines. (It was reopened as a
9-1-1 center for Allegheny County in 2019.)
Post-hub years mobile
Pittsburgh on display in center When the airport opened in 1992, only 20% of passengers started or finished their trip in Pittsburgh with the rest connecting; as of 2025, 95% of travelers start or begin their trip in Pittsburgh. The reduction and eventual closing of the US Airways hub allowed new low cost carriers to enter the market, creating more choices for local passengers. Delta started the first route to Europe (Paris) in 2009 after nearly five years without service to Europe. The airport also expanded into other ventures, including the opening of a
fracking well for
natural gas deposits under its site in 2014.
Allegiant Air commenced service in February 2015 and established a base of operations later that year.
Frontier Airlines re-entered the Pittsburgh airport in 2016 after a four-year absence.
Spirit Airlines commenced service to seven destinations in 2017.
Wow Air added year-round flights to Reykjavík in 2017. Wow left Pittsburgh due to financial difficulties in 2019 but
Icelandair began flying to Reykjavík in 2024.
Alaska Airlines began service in 2019 with a nonstop route to
Seattle/Tacoma. British Airways began service to London-Heathrow in 2019 aboard a Boeing 787. In 2017, Pittsburgh was the first U.S. airport to be named Airport of the Year by
Air Transport World. Starting in September 2017, non-ticketed persons were allowed to access the airside terminal and gates, similar to pre-9/11 policy. Pittsburgh was the first airport (since 9/11) in the nation to allow non-passengers to pass through security to dine and shop in a post-security terminal. Participants can sign up for myPITpass on the airport's website and must pass through the alternate security checkpoint before continuing through to the Airmall in the airside terminal. The airport became one of the first in the United States to use a new TSA system called Credential Authentication Technology, which phases out the use of boarding passes at TSA security checkpoints in favor of a stronger system that verifies passengers based solely on a government-issued ID. As airlines grounded planes in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pittsburgh airport allowed American Airlines and Republic Airways to park nearly 100 planes on the airport's expansive tarmac. As airline travel rebounded, airlines added or expanded service at PIT. In July 2021,
Breeze Airways began nonstop service to four cities and has since expanded to 10 destinations. In October 2021,
Sun Country Airlines announced it would enter the Pittsburgh market with service to its hub at
Minneapolis/St. Paul. In February 2024, monthly passenger counts at the airport surpassed pre-pandemic travel levels for the first time. Later that year, in June, the TSA recorded 970,000 travelers through the checkpoint, the highest count since 2005. The airport counted 9.95 million passengers in all of 2024, the highest passenger count since 2006.
Third terminal (2025–) Construction In 2017, Allegheny County Airport Authority officials announced a $1.1 billion plan to renovate and reconfigure the terminal complex, including a new landside terminal and a new parking garage. Under the proposal, the current landside building would be demolished if another use is not found, and the number of gates would be reduced from 75 to 51. A new landside building would be constructed between the airside terminal's concourses C and D, with new security and baggage facilities, a new international arrivals area, and many other amenities to serve passengers. The board chairman of the Airport Authority, David Minnotte, said, "The people of Pittsburgh finally get an airport built for them and not USAir". No taxpayer dollars would be used to construct the new facility, and it would be instead financed with floating bonds, grants, passenger facility charges, and revenue from natural gas drilling on airport property. Construction was originally expected to begin in summer 2020 and the new terminal was slated to open in 2023. In April 2020, however, airport officials decided to delay the selling of bonds and start of construction due to the coronavirus pandemic. In February 2021, airport officials announced the project would begin later that year with an increased budget of $1.39 billion. The airlines serving the airport agreed to fund $182 million in construction site preparation work for the project. An additional $28.8 million in funding will come from the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Construction finally began in July 2021 and was originally projected to be completed in late 2024 for opening in early 2025. Total costs increased to $1.7 billion. Airport officials emphasized the local flair of the new terminal. Building materials were sourced locally, including the steel, and around 90% of construction workers lived in the Pittsburgh region. The roof is intended to mimic the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania and the support columns are intended to resemble tree branches. The bridge and tunnel between the landside and airside terminals is intended to mirror the
Fort Pitt Tunnel and
Fort Pitt Bridge. An outdoor terrace is accessible to passengers even after clearing security.
Costs The budget for the new terminal building was raised by the Allegheny County Airport Authority repeatedly, from $1.1 billion when it was announced in 2017, to $1.39 billion when it broke ground in 2021, to $1.57 billion after increases were approved in 2023, to $1.72 billion at the time of the terminal's opening in 2025, when it was still not 100% complete. Over 80% of the project was financed by the sale of bonds, with the remainder paid by passenger fees, federal grants, parking fees, and other sources. The cost of the new terminal raised expenses for airlines to $17.64 per enplanement, up from $9.77 in 2019, which some analysts expected would lead to higher fares for customers. An open house and a gala with
Jeff Goldblum and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the new terminal to celebrate its completion were held in October 2025. Additional renovations for the airside terminal are planned, including renovations to the gate areas, restrooms and reconfiguring of the A and B concourses. Pittsburgh's new terminal building opened on November 18, 2025, ahead of the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas travel seasons. In December 2025,
Aer Lingus announced new service between Pittsburgh and
Dublin for the first time, beginning in May 2026 four times weekly. ==Facilities==