AGC Director Named Top 40 under 40 by National Business Aviation Association
County airport leader Lance Bagnoff recognized for industry leadership
By Rick Wills
Published November 3, 2025
Read Time: 3 mins
Lance Bagnoff, director of the Allegheny County Airport (AGC), says the national award he recently received is more of an opportunity to promote the airport he runs than his career.
“It’s flattering, the award, but it’s more important to highlight the airport and all the incredible work that goes on here. Allegheny County Airport is truly a community asset, and I am honored to serve alongside an amazing team of airport employees who continue to build upon AGC’s nearly century-long legacy,” said Bagnoff, who was named to the Top 40 under 40 list by the National Business Aviation Association.
Nearly a century after it opened in 1931, the county airport remains vital to the world of aviation. Located south of Pittsburgh in West Mifflin, the art deco airport was Pittsburgh’s primary airport until 1952.
The airport was designed by Stanley Roush, whose other projects – Pittsburgh’s County Office Building and the Clemente, Carson and Warhol bridges – are among a who’s who of Pittsburgh landmarks.
Today, AGC consistently ranks among the top ten busiest airports in Pennsylvania with approximately 60,000 departures and arrivals a year.
It also is the base for tenants such as the Pittsburgh Flight Training Center and Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics.
“We’re feeding a national demand for aviation workers,” Bagnoff said of the educational programs located at the airport that train aviation mechanics, pilots and air traffic controllers.
The airport is also a critical destination for medical flights, some involving organs for transplant surgery. Pittsburgh’s largest hospitals, renowned for transplants, are closer to AGC than to the larger Pittsburgh International Airport.
Bagnoff, who just turned 40, joined the Allegheny County Airport Authority in 2018. His career started in public safety and security at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) in Israel, globally recognized as a pioneer in airport security.
“Ben Gurion Airport has set the gold standard in aviation security, going back to the 1970s. It laid the foundation for my career and instilled in me the highest standards of service and professionalism,’’ Bagnoff said.
AGC, which turned 94 on Sept. 11, has captured the imagination of the public since the day it opened, only four years after Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight at a time when aviation was in its infancy.
The airport was “formally dedicated … in the presence of a throng of close to 100,000 persons. The greatest gathering of nationally known speed and stunt fliers, army and navy planes and commercial craft … with races, stunting exhibitions, parachute jumps, and formation flying filling the day’s program,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote the day the airport opened.
When it opened, the airport was cutting-edge: the third-largest airport in the United States and the first with a hard surface.
“It’s nostalgic,” said Traci Clark, the airport’s former director. “As an airport with only private flights, it works well, but it still reflects the time when it was built.”
Filmmakers have noticed AGC, which has appeared as a setting in movies, including “The Mothman Prophecies,” “Gung Ho” and “Last Flag Flying.”
In nearly a century, a parade of notables has landed at the airport, including presidents Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump and film icons such as Lena Horne and Danny Kaye.
In September 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt landed at the airport before meeting with Pittsburgh’s African-American leaders, visiting a new housing development and speaking on behalf of stepped-up defense manufacturing – three months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Bagnoff admires the airport’s rich history but also sees a strong future.
“AGC will further solidify its role as Pittsburgh’s gateway for business and general aviation, an established center of excellence for all things aviation education, and the region’s hub for emergency medical air transport services,” he said.
Top photo: Lance Bagnoff, director of the Allegheny County Airport, and Christina Cassotis, CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority. (Photo by Beth Hollerich)
