Pittsburgh airport terminal cost rises to $1.7B amid inflation, additional improvements

The cost of the soon-to-open landside terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport will is rising from $1.57 billion to $1.7 billion amid inflation and other factors, the Allegheny County Airport Authority said Friday.

The state-of-the-art terminal, one of the largest construction projects currently going on in southwestern Pennsylvania, replaces a past-its-prime 33-year-old structure that was built for an airline in US Air that doesn’t exist anymore, designed more for a connecting passenger that also doesn’t exist anymore at PIT.

Construction began in 2021 and had initially been set at about a $1.1 billion cost when it was first announced in February 2019. But that was before the Covid-19 pandemic scrambled the aviation and construction industries as well as steep inflation for building and other costs. It later rose to $1.57 billion in 2023.

No state or Allegheny County taxpayer funds are used in the construction. It’s funded by bond sales and the increases in the budget were approved recently by the airlines that serve Pittsburgh International Airport, as well as state and federal funding. The third and final bond sale process was recently approved by the board of the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW