Christina Cassotis was born into aviation, with a father who served as a Navy fighter pilot flying Douglas A4s in Vietnam and then returned home to fly for Pan Am Airlines.
“I lived a strange life for someone in a small town in New Hampshire,” he says. “He had returned home for 5-day layovers” from faraway destinations in Africa and Europe. “He would spend time in cafes learning the local cuisine, and then he would come home and cook it,” she says.
But when the family went on vacation, he “didn’t want to fly.” After the one time they did, in London, “I said, I want to be in the aviation industry.”
But I knew it wouldn’t be as a pilot or flight attendant. He ended up at Logan International Airport in Boston, where he worked with a former ENR news editor, Sam Sleiman. “I learned what it takes to run an airport, what’s at stake every day,” he says.
After a stint as an aviation consultant, a headhunter tapped her in 2014 to take the CEO reins at Pittsburgh International Airport, which, after US Airways pulled out ten years earlier, was struggling and needed to transition from a hub airport to an origin-destination airport.
Cassotis has often told the story of initially thinking he would only stay there for three years. More than a decade later, he’s still there, leading the $1.7 billion modernization effort that’s nearing completion. The crown jewel is a new 811,000 square meter terminal with features such as universal access services, a new pedestrian bridge, architectural features that evoke hills and the night sky, a 12-lane security checkpoint and a pilot program where a robotic arm handles baggage.
A joint venture of PJ Dick and AECOM Hunt, along with Jacobs Solutions, served as construction manager, with Gensler, HDR and luis vidal + arquitectes leading the design. Contractor Fay, a subsidiary of S&B USA Construction, built the roads and bridges, while Mascaro Construction built the terminal base and flush slab work, the structural steel and concrete deck package for the new garage and the terminal’s architectural enclosure.
Rycon Construction coordinated with other contractors on the baggage handling expansion and worked with Viking Erectors on the multimodal complex. Other major players include Turner Construction, MBI International, Ricondo, Navarro & Wright, Connico and Buro Happold.
“Christina delivered a project that was practical, highly functional and improved the day-to-day operations of the airport,” says Gensler Principal Carolyn Sponza. “She thought more about changes to the facilities to achieve real modernization. And she [understood] the place that transport facilities play in reinforcing civic identity. Their laser-like focus on creating something beautiful at every level … is a great reminder that there is both an art and a science to improving major infrastructure.”
Cassotis launched initiatives such as xBridge, which allows technology companies to test their products at the airport; Neighborhood 91, the first campus dedicated to additive manufacturing companies; the world’s first major airport microgrid system; and a plan to develop a sustainable fuel farm at the airport.
The airport team went above and beyond in outreach to small and underprivileged contractors (ENR.com 4/15/22) and the community. Pittsburgh residents were invited to participate in “dress rehearsals” for the new terminal, and their feedback was incorporated prior to the opening.
With the terminal open, the next goal is to “install,” he says. “Now we have to adjust, iterate and make sure we’re constantly improving.” And the third objective is to continue pursuing innovation. “There’s a massive digital transformation happening,” he says. “Huge amounts of data are coming out, such as the baggage system. How do we align leadership and front-line workers to make decisions about operations?”
