5 Things to Know about Being CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport

Ever wondered what it’s like to run Pittsburgh International Airport?

PIT CEO Christina Cassotis recently appeared on popular podcast “What It’s Like To Be… with Dan Heath” to round out its five-part series on aviation careers that ranged from pilot to air traffic controller to civil aviation engineer.

Cassotis and Heath’s wide-ranging conversation highlighted some of the most interesting and lesser-known parts of her role — and what travelers should know about how airports and their partners, especially the airlines, work together. Here are five key takeaways from the podcast:

• Airports can take care of people by designing infrastructure and services to support them during times of vulnerability and uncertainty. As Cassotis put it “nine times out of 10, people come in pretty stressed out because they don’t know what might go wrong.” Through features like biophilic design elements and dedicated space for travelers to unite with loved ones, PIT strives “to provide, what I would call, a dignified journey through liminal space,” Cassotis said. [Hear more at 1:12-1:39]
• Although airports do not own all the operations that take place on their property, they want to maintain a high level of service for passengers and visitors. This requires a lot of collaboration and communication with airline partners and tenants, like concessionaires and car rental operators. “We have a lot of interest and responsibility in making sure that the operations run the way that they should and the passengers are taken care of and that there’s a level of service delivered that we can stand behind and defend,” Cassotis said. [Hear more at 12:08]
• “No airline serves an airport. They serve markets,” Cassotis said. When selecting a new market, airlines consider many factors including competition, passenger demand and route network fit.  Airports use data and “the stories behind the numbers” to show a market’s economic potential when attracting air service. [Hear more at 5:28]
• When building infrastructure, like the baggage handling system in PIT’s new terminal, “we can’t skip the part where the people who actually get impacted by the change have something to say about how it happens and how they participate in it,” Cassotis said. Those workers are supporting the organization’s vision and are critical to its success. [Hear more at 26:34] 
• The job of any airport is to build on a region’s strengths and connect it to a global ecosystem. PIT, right after the US Airways hub collapsed in 2004, was not allowing the community to thrive. When Cassotis became CEO in 2015, her first order of business was to change that – and she did. “It was the first case I had seen where an airport was actually a drag on the community’s ability to meet its economic and social mobility objectives,” Cassotis said. [Hear more at 4:20]

Doing a good job as an airport CEO, Cassotis said on the podcast, means that people in the community and the global aviation industry understand the value of the airport. Airports are more than transportation hubs — they are drivers of entrepreneurship, innovation and prosperity. [Hear more at 17:24]

Listen to the full podcast here.