Christina Cassotis Named Pittsburgher of the Year

Christina Cassotis has been chosen as Pittsburgher of the Year by Pittsburgh Magazine for spearheading a revolution in air travel and reinventing the airport.

The article written by Cristina Rouvalis with photos by Laura Petrilla traces Cassotis’ history and how she came to Pittsburgh a decade ago to be the CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority with a vision to pave a new way forward.

“First, I had to drive a stake in the heart of the hub, because Pittsburghers thought that’s the only way you succeed. No, the industry changed, and we’re not going backwards,” Cassotis told Pittsburgh Magazine.

PIT CEO Christina Cassotis featured on the cover of the January-February 2025 edition of Pittsburgh Magazine. (Photo by Laura Petrilla/Pittsburgh Magazine)

In her 10 years at Pittsburgh International Airport, the number of nonstop destinations (including to international destinations) rose from 36 to 61; new airlines have arrived and annual passenger traffic climbed to 9.95 million total passengers in 2024 with a record 98 percent of passengers now making the airport the starting point (origin) and/or the ending point (destination) of their trip.

The article also outlines the many innovations at the airport over the last 10 years, such as becoming the first major airport in the world to run on its own natural gas and solar energy microgrid and the new $1.57 billion landside terminal, funded without any local or state taxpayer money and on track to open this year.

“What I’m most excited about is having people in Pittsburgh look at themselves differently as a result of the airport,” Cassotis told Pittsburgh Magazine. “This is a massive face-lift to the front door of a community that deserves a better front door. This is us. This is what we deserve.”

Pittsburgher of the Year dates back to 1986 when University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Wesley Posvar and Carnegie Mellon University President Richard Cyert shared the honor. It also has gone to such notable Pittsburghers as August Wilson (1989 and 2005), Teresa Heinz (1994), Fred Rogers (1997), Mario Lemieux (1999 and 2012), Max King (2019) and Rich Fitzgerald (2022). Last year’s honoree was Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.