Inside Pittsburgh International Airport's new terminal: a wood-slatted ceiling, long skylights and a hanging mobile over the main hall

Pittsburgh International · The new terminal

The new PIT terminal: what changed.

On Nov. 18, 2025, Pittsburgh swapped a 1992 hub layout, and its train, for a $1.7 billion terminal built for people who start and end their trips here. Here is the before and after.

Compare then and now Timeline

Photo: Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Short answer

Pittsburgh International's $1.7 billion new terminal opened on Nov. 18, 2025. It replaced the 1992 landside terminal and the train with a building next to the gates, linked by the Skybridge. It added one 12-lane checkpoint, a new garage and lot, a faster bag system, and the Welcome Point, and the airport says no local tax dollars were used.

Verified

The new terminal, by the numbers

$1.7BTerminal Modernization Program. No local tax dollars.

811,000square feet in the new terminal building.

12security lanes in one checkpoint, up from 7.

3miles of baggage belts, down from 8.

Interactive

Then vs now.

Drag the slider across the old and new layouts, then switch the table between before and now.

Then vs now: the layout

Before: train between two buildings

Now: one walk over the Skybridge

Slide to compare

Drag to compare: old layout on the left, new on the right

Simplified diagrams, not to scale. The airside terminal and its four concourses are the same building as before; it was renovated rather than replaced.

What changed, point by point

Show

Item	Before Nov. 18, 2025	Now
Getting to the gates	A people-mover train between the landside and airside terminals, about half a mile apart	The Skybridge, a walkway from the checkpoint to the Core and every gate, with lighting that changes through the day
Security	Main checkpoint with 7 lanes, plus an alternate checkpoint	One checkpoint with 12 lanes on the Departures level
Curb to airside	Train ride after security	About 50% less time from curb to airside, says the airport
Checked bags	About 8 miles of baggage belts	About 3 miles of belts; the airport expected delivery times to be cut in half
International arrivals	Tunnels to the trains, with domestic and international passengers kept apart	A dedicated corridor from customs to the Arrivals level; time to the curb cut by about two thirds
Baggage claim	In the old landside terminal	Eight carousels grouped by airline, nearly double the old claim area
Meeting a flight	Waiting in baggage claim	The Welcome Point, where every arriving passenger walks through
Parking	Short Term Garage plus Long Term, Extended and Economy lots	Terminal Garage (3,300 spaces), Terminal Lot and one Shuttle Lot; covered parking tripled
Outdoor space	None for passengers	Four planned terraces; the 36,000 sq ft UPMC Terrace opened in July 2026
Built for	A US Airways hub (opened Oct. 1, 1992) where about 80% of travelers were connecting	Pittsburgh travelers: 98% of 2024 passengers started or ended their trip at PIT

Checked October 19, 2026 against the airport's own site. PGH Nonstop is independent and is not the airport.

Three levels

How to get through it now

Departing

Top level

Drop off on the Departures curb, check in, clear the 12-lane checkpoint, pass the recompose area and walk the Skybridge to the Core and every gate.

Arriving

Middle level

Leave the gates through the automated exit lanes into the Welcome Point, then baggage claim. Friends pick you up right outside.

Ground

Bottom level

Rideshare, taxis, the 28X, hotel shuttles, and walkways to the Terminal Garage, Terminal Lot and rental car counters.

Design

Designed to feel like Pittsburgh

The architects, Gensler and HDR with luis vidal + architects, drew on the region's landscape: a rolling roofline, 38 tree-shaped steel columns, about 100,000 square feet of glass and "constellation" lighting with more than 4,000 lights. The terrazzo floors carry a leaf pattern by artist Clayton Merrell. About 16,000 tons of steel were fabricated locally, and the airport says more than 90% of labor and supplies were local.

It runs on the airport's own microgrid of natural gas and solar, which the airport describes as the first to fully power a major airport. The building is designed for 13 to 15 million passengers a year; PIT handled 9.85 million in 2025.

Timeline

From hub to home airport.

Oct. 1, 1992
The airport opens as a US Airways hub, with a landside terminal and a train to the airside gates.
2015
Christina Cassotis becomes CEO and refocuses PIT on Pittsburgh travelers rather than connections.
Oct. 2021
Groundbreaking on the Terminal Modernization Program.
July 2025
A dedicated international baggage system opens on Concourse C's lower level.
Oct. 11, 2025
Ribbon cutting for the new terminal.
Nov. 18, 2025
Opening day. Just after 2 a.m. the team "went live", and the old landside terminal and train closed.
Feb. 2026
PIT becomes the first airport with Universal Design Certification from the University at Buffalo's IDEA Center. The rebuilt customs primary processing area opens.
June 2026
Named to the Prix Versailles list of the World's Most Beautiful Airports.
July 2026
The UPMC Terrace, the first of four planned terraces, opens to everyone.
Aug. 2026
LEED Gold for the terminal; Parksmart Gold for the Terminal Garage.
Sept. 22, 2026
Air Transport World names PIT its 2027 Airport of the Year, the first U.S. airport to win twice.
Oct. 13, 2026
A dedicated TSA PreCheck Touchless ID lane opens at the checkpoint.

Downtown Pittsburgh lit up at blue hour from Mount Washington, with Point State Park, the rivers and the Fort Pitt Bridge below

First time through?

Find your gate before you land.

Our schematic shows the four concourses, which airlines the airport's map puts where, and the closest food to every gate.

Terminal map

Photo: Michael Righi, CC BY 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Questions

When did the new Pittsburgh airport terminal open?

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. The first passengers came through overnight, and the old landside terminal and its train closed around 2:30 a.m. that morning.

How much did the new Pittsburgh airport terminal cost?

The airport calls it a $1.7 billion terminal modernization. It says no local tax dollars were used: airline partners cover most of the cost, with the rest from bonds, federal grants and philanthropy.

Is there still a train at Pittsburgh airport?

No. The people mover closed with the old landside terminal on Nov. 18, 2025. You now walk across the Skybridge from security to the Core and the gates.

Where is the new Pittsburgh airport terminal?

Right next to the existing airside terminal at 1000 Airport Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15231. The new roads bring you straight to its three curb levels.

Who designed the new PIT terminal?

Gensler and HDR, in association with luis vidal + architects. The 811,000 sq ft building has 38 tree-shaped steel columns and a roofline inspired by the region's hills.

What awards has the new terminal won?

Among others: Air Transport World's 2027 Airport of the Year (announced Sept. 22, 2026), a place on the 2026 Prix Versailles list of the World's Most Beautiful Airports, and LEED Gold.

More of the PIT guide

Sources