What Decisions Have Helped PIT Turn Challenges into Opportunities?

The story of Pittsburgh is the story of how disruption is transformed into opportunity.

The region, which has undergone not one but two official renaissances, is arguably in the midst of another. And the new Pittsburgh International Airport is a key element of the revitalization and reimagining of the region and its economy.

To understand the airport’s transformation, it’s important to know its history.

In 2004 after US Airways abandoned its hub at the airport, which was designed in no small part to meet the needs of the airline, what to do about PIT became the priority of incoming Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

“When I got elected, I think that was the number one thing I heard, you got to fix the airport,” said Fitzgerald, who served as Allegheny County Executive from 2012 to 2023 and is now Executive Director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission.

Before changes could be made, the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which had been created in late 1999 to enable the airport to operate more like a business, had to find a new CEO.

It wasn’t an easy task until the team was able to pivot and focus on its