WATCH: In City of Bridges, PIT Adds 55 More—Sort of

Pittsburgh International Airport has 55 boarding bridges—that’s the passageway you walk through at the gate to board and exit a plane. Three tunnels make up a passenger boarding bridge, and those tunnels see a lot of foot traffic.

“The passenger boarding bridge is the first thing the passenger sees and the last thing the passenger sees when they leave Pittsburgh International Airport,” said Chris McCready, a mechanic with Airlines Services at PIT. “Got to keep it going good, got to keep it looking good.”

PIT’s Airline Services crew takes care of exterior maintenance on the passenger boarding bridges while Facilities Maintenance manages the inside. In August, the bridge at Gate A15 is going through a total refurbishment.

“We basically do the wall boards, ceiling tile, any doors that need changed out,” said Mark Usenicnik, Maintenance Supervisor, Facilities Maintenance at PIT.

A15 will also get new carpet. Inside, the skilled tradespeople at PIT, like carpenters and painters, are working on the temporarily closed bridge. Meanwhile, outside of A15, mechanics have completed an equalizer change on the bridge.

“The boarding bridge has three separate tunnels that move independently of each other. The equalizer cable is just the mechanical connection between the three tunnels so that they telescope evenly,” said McCready.

Each tunnel is a different size. Some are 110 feet long, some are 146 feet long.

“They are made to fit inside of each other, so A tunnel is your smallest, B is the middle, C is the biggest,” said McCready.