It is out with the previous 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 present airport terminal, initially thought-about fairly revolutionary when it opened in 1992, is only a shadow of what it as soon as was, at the very least, when it comes to 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 one in every 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, informed 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 selection. It may maintain its present terminal construction with landside and airside operations cut up between two buildings linked by a virtually half-mile underground tunnel and other people mover. Or, it may innovate and turn into 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 informed TPG to anticipate a proper opening within the third quarter of 2025.)
The $1.57 billion TMP undertaking consists of an all-new headhouse that may function a centralized departures and arrivals corridor, Pennsylvania’s largest single parking construction and far more.
There’s tons for passengers to get enthusiastic about, so be a 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.
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Centralized departures and arrivals corridor
Assuming you have been to PIT earlier than, you will possible do a double take whenever you arrive on the new departures space.
As you strategy the brand new facility from the roadways, your eyes will possible be mesmerized by the glistening new terminal constructing.
Departing 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 recently opened Kansas City International Airport (MCI) terminal.)
After getting dropped off on the terminal, there can be three entrance vestibules for departures. As soon as inside, airport designers are hoping passengers can be impressed by the soaring-high ceilings which can be formed like rolling hills and supply loads of pure mild.
Nature is likely one of the key design themes of the brand new terminal (together with know-how 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 evening.
Plus, the assist beams that go from the bottom to the ceiling are designed to resemble bushes from the western Pennsylvania forest.
Notice that passengers utilizing ride-hailing companies can be dropped off on Stage 1 of the brand new facility, however there can be categorical escalators to funnel passengers on to check-in.
All of the flooring within the new terminal is terrazzo, eliminating the outdated tiling within the present facility that wasn’t designed for the recognition of rollaboard baggage.
Whereas some new airports provide island-style check-in counters (like Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in New York City), PIT will keep on 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 area spans each the departures and arrivals ranges and can be demarcated by the 1958 sculpture by Alexander Calder that can be hung from the ceiling (and was once displayed prominently within the previous terminal).
Revamped safety lanes
Should you’ve lately handed by way of PIT within the morning, odds are you have 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.
Nevertheless, with the shift to an origin-and-destination mannequin, PIT has been unable to maintain up with the demand for safety lanes.
Fortuitously, the brand new terminal can have a single centralized safety space with 11 lanes. This consists of Clear, TSA PreCheck, household safety, precedence safety and basic screening.
The screening machines would be the newest fashions from Analogic (aka the famously slow blue machines.)
After clearing safety, you will discover a big regrouping space to recuperate your belongings (and composure).
Right here, you will additionally see floor-to-ceiling glass home windows with out of doors remark decks on either side. Constructing on the character theme, PIT has plans for 4 whole out of doors remark 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 soothing retreat from the hustle and bustle of the airport itself.
Paul Hoback, PIT’s chief improvement officer, informed TPG that when accomplished, these decks can be lined with grass, bushes and different greenery.
No extra folks mover
The present PIT format with separate landside and airside buildings implies that passengers have to take a folks mover between the amenities.
Nevertheless, 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’s going to 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 pace up journey instances from curb to gate — by as a lot as 50%, in line with Hoback — and likewise assist enhance the world accessible for concessionaires and retail shops. (In truth, 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.)
To this point, PIT has shared the checklist 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.
Sooner arrivals
Not solely does the centralized terminal remove the folks mover for departures, but it surely additionally accelerates arrival visitors stream. Going ahead, passengers will merely descend a brief escalator and stroll on to the arrivals curb.
In line 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 regarded on the information that confirmed that it has an enormous meet-and-greet inhabitants (family and friends members who drive to the airport to choose up their family members). To accommodate these pickups and be a steward for the native inhabitants, the arrival space will function quite a lot of concessions and two out of doors decks (just like the airside ones mentioned above).
On the arrivals degree, there can be eight baggage claims, all linked by a singular back-of-house baggage transportation system.
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This upgraded system is designed to maneuver baggage far more effectively than the outdated one which PIT makes use of at the moment.
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 constructions for native visitors had been largely an afterthought.
Nevertheless, with the brand new PIT, parking turned a central tenet of the redevelopment undertaking, a lot in order that, in line with Hoback, the brand new terminal can be residence to the single-largest parking construction in Pennslyvania.
It will span 5 ranges with 5,000 areas. The rental automotive corporations can be stationed on the primary ground of the power, eliminating the necessity to take a shuttle bus to a distant lot.
This new construction can be linked to the principle terminal by a lined walkway, and it will function triple the variety of lined parking areas in comparison with the prevailing constructions.
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Extra upgrades coming to gates
Whereas a lot of the main target 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 undertaking, the airport is renovating among the gates, bogs and holdroom areas within the present terminal.
That stated, a lot of the flooring and format will stay precisely as they had been when US Airways had a hub there.
That is not essentially dangerous information for the reason that airport’s X-shaped format 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 technique 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 displaying 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 would not simply usher in a much-upgraded passenger expertise. It additionally helps kick-start what PIT officers hope can 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’s going to even have a smooth, 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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