Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Pittsburgh International Airport is a major civil and military airport serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan area from Findlay and Moon Townships, some seventeen miles west of downtown. Operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority, it offers an impressive four-runway layout including two ILS-equipped precision approaches, making it a substantial and rewarding destination for simulator pilots flying airliner or general aviation traffic into a busy Class B field.
Pittsburgh International Airport (KPIT) is a civil-military international airport located in Findlay and Moon Townships, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Allegheny County Airport Authority and serves the Greater Pittsburgh region along with adjacent parts of West Virginia and Ohio. The field also hosts a United States Air Force facility alongside its civil operations, giving it a mixed character that a visiting pilot will notice in the mix of airline, cargo, and military traffic sharing its extensive runway system.
The airport sits about seventeen miles west of downtown Pittsburgh and lies within controlled Class B airspace, reflecting its status as a major international airport. Its four runways and the surrounding 10,000 acres of airport land make it the largest civil or public airport by land area in Pennsylvania, and pilots should expect to coordinate with terminal radar and tower control throughout arrival and departure.
Pittsburgh International Airport has four physical runways. Runway 10R/28L is the longest at 11,475 feet, hard-surfaced, lit, and equipped with ILS. Runway 10L/28R is 10,482 feet, also hard-surfaced, lit, and ILS-equipped. Runway 10C/28C is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 10,293 feet on the 10C threshold and 10,156 feet on the 28C threshold, without ILS. Runway 14/32 is 8,095 feet from threshold 14 and 7,760 feet from threshold 32, hard-surfaced and lit, with ILS available on runway 32.
Pilots should expect to work Clearance Delivery, Ground on 121.9 MHz, and Tower on 119.1 MHz. Approach control is available on 120.875 MHz, with a secondary approach frequency on 36.08 MHz, and Departure on 118.65 MHz. The ATIS broadcasts on 127.25 MHz, and UNICOM is available on 122.95 MHz for general aviation traffic. A ramp control frequency of 131.375 MHz is also published. The airport is equipped with ILS on three of its four runway directions (10R/28L, 10L/28R, and runway 32), supporting instrument approaches in poor weather.
The land now occupied by the airport was originally agricultural, developed as a dairy farm in the 1920s by John A. Bell and later expanded by Edward E. Rieck and C.F. Nettrour of Rieck's Dairy. Around 1940, the federal government identified the need for a military airport in the Pittsburgh area to defend its industrial base and provide a training and stop-over facility, work carried out through the Works Progress Administration. The airport that grew from this site, originally known as Greater Pittsburgh Airport, opened on 31 May 1952 and was initially served by five airlines. It became a hub for Trans World Airlines for more than two decades, with the first jet service arriving in 1959 in the form of TWA 707s on a Los Angeles-Chicago-Pittsburgh routing. Runways were progressively extended through the 1950s and 1960s, with a 10,500-foot runway added by 1965. International status was formalised on 1 July 1968 with the dedication of a customs office, and in 1972, following the opening of an international arrivals building, the airport was renamed Greater Pittsburgh International Airport. A billion-dollar rebuilding and expansion project, largely shaped to the specifications of US Airways, was completed in 1992, producing an X-shaped terminal design with an underground tram that was hailed by The New York Times as the airport of the future. Passenger traffic peaked at around 20 million in the late 1990s, with US Airways operating over 500 daily flights and employing 12,000 people at the airport in 2001. The carrier's subsequent financial difficulties, compounded by the downturn in air travel following the September 11 attacks, led to sharp reductions in Pittsburgh operations from 2004 onward, which nearly bankrupted the airport itself. The following decade brought a resurgence as the Allegheny County Airport Authority worked to diversify the carrier base, doubling the number of airlines serving the field to sixteen. In 2017, Pittsburgh became the first airport in the country to reopen its post-security terminal to non-travelling visitors able to pass through screening, and in 2021 it became the first airport in the world to operate its own microgrid, powering the entire site through a combination of natural gas and solar generation.
Pittsburgh International Airport today serves as a hub for regional carrier Southern Airways Express and as an operating base for Allegiant Air, with Southwest Airlines having grown to become the airport's largest carrier by passenger numbers, overtaking American Airlines. Cargo operations have expanded significantly in recent years. A newly built landside terminal opened in November 2025 alongside renovations to the airside terminal, part of a project intended to tailor the airport more closely to Pittsburgh's own needs rather than those of a single dominant airline. The airport continues to host a sizeable United States Air Force presence alongside its civil operations.