Pittsburgh International Airport is a trailblazer in sustainability.
This year, the airport won the 2024 Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award for Environmental Innovation for its microgrid project. The microgrid fuels the airport with natural gas and solar energy, and has earnt the airport a growing collection of industry awards since it went live in 2021.
At World Aviation Festival, Christina Cassotis, the CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport joined for a brief conversation on next steps for the airport’s sustainability journey.
Last year, Cassotis highlighted the importance of “leveraging innovation to earn the industry its right to grow.” Reflecting on the year since, Cassotis highlighted several bold steps the airport has taken to advance sustainability. These include three pathways to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production onsite: alcohol-to-jet fuel, hydrothermal liquefaction (which uses fats, oils, and greases), and capturing fugitive methane.
Discussing the challenges that come with being a trailblazer, Cassotis explained:
“I think when we’re looking at this new greener, cleaner fuel we’re all trailblazers, we’re all trying to figure it out. There’s a lot of different regulators involved and they’re not all aligned. We have in incentives in place but we have more, I would say, regulatory measures than others that might look punitive or restrict demand. So I think that the issue really is that we’re building the plane while we’re flying it and there’s a lot to learn. We don’t really have a clear path as much as we have a series of next steps.”
To learn more on next steps at Pittsburgh International Airport and hear details on the Terminal Modernisation Programme set to complete next year, watch the full interview below.
Questions asked include:
- We last met at World Aviation Festival 2023 where you spoke about “leveraging innovation to earn the industry its right to grow” – how has PIT worked on this in the last 12 months?
- There are plans to establish a hydrogen and SAF production facility at the airport, which would make you the first major airport in the US with SAF production onsite – what are the key challenges that come with being a “trailblazer” in this space?
- Your Terminal Modernisation Programme is set to complete next year. How is this progressing and in what ways will it elevate the passenger experience?
For more from onsite at World Aviation Festival 2024 also see:
