After years of anticipation, Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) is finally opening their state-of-the-art, $1.7 billion landside terminal on November 18, 2025.  Announced in 2017, this project replaces the entire ticketing, security, and baggage claim area built for US Airways back in 1992.  When Pittsburgh served as a hub for USAir, 80% of annual passengers were using the airport solely as a layover.  But by 2004, the company faced multiple bankruptcies and largely abandoned the airport before eventually being absorbed by American Airlines.

Obviously, Pittsburgh International was faced with a major dilemma.  The airport was built with travelers, but not necessarily Pittsburghers, in mind.  A unique feature was the separate landside and airside terminals that maximized the number of gates offered.  The airside was built in an X-shape that allowed for ease of access between the 75 gates.  This also included an AirMall with dozens of restaurants and shops geared towards layover passengers.  Most travelers never had to utilize the landside terminal, so it largely felt like an afterthought.  But once PIT no longer had its hub status, the focus had to shift to local flyers.

Now that 95% of passengers start or end their trip in Pittsburgh rather than use the airport to connect, the warts of the landside terminal became more apparent.  If you entered the building from the parking lots, you would first need to head upstairs to go to bag check.  This sprawling space, with its noisy tile floors, burgundy & navy color scheme, and some brutalist concrete architecture to top it off, was trapped in the 90s.  Especially for those early morning flights, it felt like a gloomy way to start a trip.  After checking in, you’d then have to go back downstairs for security, which significantly lacked capacity since it wasn’t designed with locals in mind.  You’d have to cross your fingers that the alternate security checkpoint (if you know, you know) would be open, which usually got you through TSA in less than five minutes.  

But then came the tram.  Built by Westinghouse, this people mover system would take you underground from the landside to airside terminal in around 100 seconds.  In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t that long.  But when you’re an anxious traveler who just wants to make it to their gate, it can feel like a chore.  In the end, it could make all the difference between you making your flight or not.  It was a rite of passage for all Pittsburghers to experience and I loved it as a kid, but not so much as an adult.  It owes its existence to the fact that, back in 1992, the airport needed tarmac space between concourses C and D, so they created this underground system that would allow for the separation of the landside and airside terminals.  

Once you reached the other side, you then needed to take one more escalator up to the central hub and walk to your gate from there.  Of course, upon returning to Pittsburgh, you took the people mover back to landside, then had to take an escalator down to baggage claim, before taking escalators up yet again to exit for the parking lots.  And because of the distance between the two terminals, you would typically have to wait even longer for your bag to arrive on the carousel.

After 25 years, airport authorities realized that this system was not serving their current clientele as it should.   So in 2017, they announced this project that would usher in a new era at Pittsburgh International Airport.  The landside terminal and the tram would close in favor of a new ticketing, security, and baggage terminal that would be directly connected to the existing gates.  The concept art looked incredible, and it felt like an obvious step in the right direction for the city.  While the start of the project was delayed due to the pandemic, the terminal is finally here on November 18, 2025.

Since anticipation has been building for eight years now, it’s important that PIT gets this right.  Hiccups will surely come in the months and years to follow, but they have shown great willingness to listen to feedback and adapt quickly to it.  Because Pittsburghers are so nebby, the airport held an open house on October 11, 2025, so that everyone could check the place out before it went into operation; additionally, they held the second of two public trials on October 25 to test out all aspects of the traveler’s experience.  I was fortunate enough to attend both, so what follows from here will be my rundown of what you can expect from the new terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport based on my two visits and my overall thoughts on what’s to come.

Parking

When I attended both of these opportunities, I was able to test out two separate, brand new parking experiences.  While it wasn’t exactly clear how traffic would be rerouted to take you to these new locations, I will do my best to briefly run-down each.  Overall, though, when coming off Interstate 376, you will stay to the right to go towards the new terminal instead of going to the left as before.

In terms of existing parking, the extended, economy, and long-term lots will still continue on as they do today, but you will no longer have to walk from these lots to the terminal.  Instead, they will be renamed as Shuttle Lots, with five heated shelters spread out amongst them.  To make wayfinding easier, these shelters have been named (Champions, Steel, Bridges, Robotics, and The Burgh) and color-coded.  They will still provide ease of access to the Hyatt Regency Hotel as well, with Bridges & Champions being the closest shelters.  The 8,000 parking spaces in this area will be served by a new fleet of 35-passenger buses that promise a maximum wait time of ten minutes between shuttles.  The shuttles will drop you off at the departures level and will pick up outside of baggage claim at door 5.  The shelters all appear to be relatively high-tech, with bus tracking included.  You can expect to pay $8 per day if you book in advance or $12 by driving up.  This area also has a free wait lot for anyone waiting for someone to land.

On my first visit during the open house, I was able to park in the new Terminal Lot, which features over 2,800 uncovered spaces.  It was incredibly easy to walk from this lot to the doors of the new terminal.  You will have to take an escalator or elevator up two flights to reach departures from here, which I thought was a downside.  During my two visits, wayfinding was a bit difficult from the bottom floor of the new terminal, but that might have changed in the time since.  This lot will cost $19 per day in advance or $25 day-of.  For that price and for the fact that your car will be unprotected from the elements regardless, I would recommend the Shuttle Lots over this area.  However, this lot (as well as the garage) will offer hourly pricing, so it would be a good spot to park if you are picking someone up but want to wait for them inside rather than the informality of driving up to the curb from the free lot.

The last option to highlight is the Terminal Garage.  The existing garage that connects to the old landside terminal will close, but its successor will offer the same convenience, if not more.  At a cost of $30 per day in advance or $35 otherwise, it’s probably not an option that I would choose.  I did get to test it out during the public trial, though, which gave me a glimpse of what to expect.  Just like the Shuttle Lots, the five floors of the garage are color-coded and are named Robotics Row, Steel City, City of Bridges, and City of Champions.  Level 1 will house the rental cars.  In total, the garage will have 3,200 spaces, with 2,400 being covered.  The top floor has snow-melting technology built into the pavement.  The garage also features parking guidance lights on the ceiling:  green means the spot is open, blue means it’s an open handicapped spot, and no light means it’s occupied.  Additionally, there are markers at each row telling you how many spots are available in that lane.  The garage has electric vehicle chargers too.  It also has a premium area called PIT Executive that costs $499 per month should you be a frequent flyer.

It was a bit backed up parking in the Terminal Garage during the public trial, but I don’t expect that issue to persist moving forward.  The second level is the most convenient to be on, and if my memory serves me right, an exit ramp was on this level, too.  The garage has both an elevator and stairs, but from what I saw, there are only two elevators on the eastern end to service the entire thing.  When you make it to the ground floor, it leads out into an enclosed corridor that includes all of the rental car agency stations.  This space was very bright and offered some nice views outside.  The doors at the far end of this room lead outside to the bottom floor of the new terminal, the same location that people parking in the Terminal Lot will use to access the building.

Departures

Once you take the elevator up to the top floor, you’ll be hit with the wow-inducing moment of seeing the new vaulted ceilings of the Departures terminal.  Letting in an abundance of natural light, the wood planks above you mimic the rolling hillsides of Western Pennsylvania.  It truly leaves you in awe when you glimpse it for the first time.  One cool feature is the sparkling, star lighting that will really pop for those early mornings or late nights at the airport.  Since we were there mid-day, we couldn’t experience the full effect.  I’m definitely excited to see what this terminal looks like in the moments where those lights can truly shine (no pun intended).  Certainly, though, these ceilings feel incredibly timeless and elegant, far surpassing the dreariness that I felt on the previous ticketing level.

The departures level features an open concourse that is easy to maneuver, with a wheelchair station right by the escalators/elevators for anyone in need of it.  The space includes seating areas with charging docks built right in, something that is commonplace at many other airports but was severely lacking at PIT.  The support columns across the room look a lot like tree branches, and there are even metallic leaves integrated right into some of the floor tiles.  The room is surrounded by windows, helping to accentuate the colors around you.

Each airline has its own ticketing station; American, Breeze, Delta, Sun Country, Spirit, British, and Allegiant are to the right, while Alaska, Icelandair, Frontier, Southern, JetBlue, Air Canada, United, and Southwest are on the left.  For the major carriers in particular, these spaces were quite large, featuring plenty of computers and weighing stations to get you on your way quickly.  They also come equipped with check-in kiosks that allow you to print out your boarding passes and luggage tags.

Wayfinding in this space was generally strong.  When you come upstairs, there are flight information boards, directional signage for each airline, and even a sign estimating security wait times for standard, TSA Pre-Check, priority, and CLEAR.  As you move past the ticketing stations, there is a balcony that overlooks the arrivals area below you.  You can freely access this area before boarding if that’s something your heart desires.  There is a place called Camden Food Market to the left of the balcony and, in classic airport style, a Hudson News on the right.  Also on the left is an oversized luggage drop-off should you be directed to use it.  There are a few restrooms on this floor as well.

Security

As you move straight ahead from the ticketing and past the balcony, you will quickly come to the security lines.  Each lane is very clearly marked depending on your status, and the airport is touting a much faster process now that there are additional scanners available.  I was able to experience the security screening firsthand during my public trial, and I waited around five minutes.

After the TSA agent scans your ID, you will approach the conveyor belt to drop off any carry-ons.  You no longer have to take off your belt or shoes, nor do you have to remove your liquids or computers.  You do still have to empty your pockets, of course, but things move much more efficiently now that they have upgraded technology.  In each lane, there are three trays available at any time for you to place your items in.  Once you push the tray forward, it activates a new one to fill its place.  After you go through the body scanner and retrieve your items, the tray continues down the line.  At the end, a camera scans your tray to see if anything is left behind.  As long as it’s empty, it automatically sends your tray to a drop area and back up the line again, but if there’s anything inside, it will hold it in place.  It was cool to witness in person.  I even tested the scanning device by placing a credit card in my bin and I can verify that it works!

After you get through security, there is a small ramp that takes you through a lighted tunnel.  The features on the ceiling here were once again very cool.  You then emerge in the central hub of the existing airside terminal, but you’ll need to take an escalator or elevator down to reach the gates.  To put this into perspective, you now enter the terminal directly above where you used to come up from the tram by the old T-rex display.  But instead of taking an escalator up, you now take one down.  Overall, the transition is rather seamless and is supposed to invoke the same feelings as emerging from the Fort Pitt Tunnel into Downtown Pittsburgh.

Arrivals

While the Departures level is awesome and efficient, Arrivals falls a little flat in comparison.  It’s not like there was anything bad about it – there’s only so much you can do with baggage claim, and I think they went outside the box with it – but the floor feels a bit lacking.  Part of this can be attributed to the fact that this area still had the most work left to complete during my two visits.  It was hard to tell what was intentional and what was unfinished, though.

After you arrive at Pittsburgh International and leave your gate, you will walk towards the central hub of the X-shaped terminal.  Without having to leave this floor, you will head to the right (past the old down escalator to the tram) and head up a small set of stairs (escalators and elevators are once again available here).  My guess is that there is another one of these exits to the left as well, but in my experience so far, I’ve only been to the right.  Before you hit the stairs, there is a courtyard on either side, which also functions as a pet relief area.  Should you personally need to use the restroom, I would encourage you to look elsewhere, or you may face arrest for public urination.  Straight ahead is a set of automated security doors to separate landside and airside.  When you emerge in the arrivals area, there are long sets of seats to the right and left, as well as additional courtyard access.  International arrivals will also emerge in this location.  Perhaps to help with traffic flow, the center area here is wide open, but in my opinion, a little too open.  I feel like it needs something to help the space feel more alive and less sterile, whether it’s an art piece or something else.

Straight ahead, there are some other shops and restrooms, but the main focal point is the Cafe Conmigo location directly below the balcony overhead.  It’s a beautiful location for a coffee shop and is very eye-catching.  Because this floor lacks dining options, I do wonder just how busy it will get on a high-traffic day.  If you are worried about having something to eat or drink before the drive home, it might be a good idea to grab some food near the gates before you head over to baggage claim as long as restaurants or convenience stores are still open.

Baggage claim took me a lot longer than I had expected during the public trial – I ended up waiting over 20 minutes for my suitcase to come through.  I’m going to chalk that one up to the fact that I wasn’t on a real flight and I moved very quickly through the rest of the process, so I might’ve gotten ahead of it faster than anticipated.  The seats in this area are all made of concrete, so hopefully you won’t wait as long as I did.  There are screens at every carousel telling you the next flight’s luggage to arrive on the belt along with an expected wait time.  The baggage claims had some cool art installations as well.  This area also has access to the same courtyards, which could be a fun place to hang out if you’re waiting to pick someone up.

Some carousels are earmarked for a specific airline.  On the right is #1-4 (Southwest, Delta, United, and an undesignated one, in that order) while #5-8 are on the left (all of which are undesignated except for #8, which is for American Airlines).  There are plenty of boards around this level that tell you which baggage claim to use.  The oversized luggage pickup area is on the right as well, directly below where you dropped it off upstairs.

After retrieving your suitcases, there are a few options with how to proceed.  If you are heading to the shuttle lots or to the Hyatt Regency, you will go straight ahead and out the door on this same level.  I would imagine that cars can also pull up to the curb at this location, although this is where the wayfinding was most confusing.  If you need to access the Terminal Lot or Garage, you will definitely need to take the escalator down one flight, then walk to either.  Ride share pick-up and off-airport shuttles will also pick you up on the bottom floor.  It seems like this will primarily happen out of door 7 closer to the Terminal Lot, but again, this was the area where wayfinding was most difficult.

Closing Thoughts

Besides these small issues I have with the Arrivals level, I absolutely love the new era of Pittsburgh International Airport.  You may look at the overall price tag of this project and question why the decision was made or why quite so much money was spent.  Sure, the old landside terminal was serviceable.  But between the outdated people mover system and the recent horror stories about long lines at security, it was clear that changes needed to be made that were beyond an easy solution.

As airport officials have said, this new terminal was made for Pittsburgh, not for USAir.  This isn’t a hub anymore, and because of the city’s location in our country, it’s unlikely to ever serve as one again.  Something had to be done so that local travelers could be better served.  As a result, we now have this beautiful, groundbreaking transformation ahead of us that is unlikely to become outdated in the same way that its predecessor was.  It’s hard to resist the urge to book a flight just so I can experience the terminal again, this time as a real passenger.  I think you’ll find it to be an amazing start or end to your journey as well.

These upgrades are not limited to the new terminal.  In the existing airside terminal, work has been underway for the last few years as they cut down on the number of gates, add new dining options, renovate bathrooms, and reconfigure seating with charging stations to move into the 21st century (better late than never).  I think the bathroom upgrades are especially nice, with increased privacy, cleanliness, and convenience.  There were even small flower vases hanging by the mirrors!  While the airside terminal isn’t perfect, I’m optimistic that officials will not become content with the status quo and will continue to pour resources into this area.  Hopefully, this means that restaurants will stay open past 10pm though, because on a few late flights home, the place has felt more like a dead mall than an airport.

I have confidence that this new airport terminal will serve as an immense sense of pride for Pittsburgh in the decades to come.  While I can’t promise that everything will go flawlessly in the first months or years, I do think that the overall experience that PIT has to offer will be hard to beat.  There is so much heart poured into this new terminal.  It has beauty and charm that will wow you, but a certain it-factor that goes beyond that.  I can’t wait to experience this terminal for myself over and over again, but I’m just as excited for all of you to see it too.  Just like back in 1992, Pittsburgh International Airport is at the cutting edge of airport design and innovation.  But this time, it’s here for the long haul.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU:

Do you have an upcoming trip planned in or out of Pittsburgh International and have any questions for us that weren’t addressed in the article?  Let us know in the comments!  What are you most looking forward to experiencing for yourself?  Or what aspects are you most concerned about?