From the new “Rocky” statue at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to the debut of new terminals at San Diego International Airport (SAN) and Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), it’s been a year filled with plenty of new airport amenities and events.

We gathered some of our favorites for a story on the The Points Guy site, but we wanted to share some of those, and others, with you here.

We’ll add more tomorrow.

Celebrating 100 years in lights

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and making good use of the LED lighting on its massive, 900-foot-long North and South canopies.

The party started with a New Year’s Eve canopy countdown clock that announced “ATL 100” at the stroke of midnight and continued throughout the year. Whenever the canopies aren’t lit for a special day, ie. Valentine’s Day or Christmas, the default is “ATL 100.”

Airport dinosaurs come and go

While the T. rex fossil replica on loan for many years to Pittsburgh International Airport didn’t make it to the new terminal (yet), there are other airports around the country, including Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Salt Lake City International airport, that have dinosaur fossil replicas in the terminals.

This year, Indianapolis International Airport (IND) joined the list for a short while.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, IND Airport welcomed a 33-foot-long fossil cast of the museum’s famed Tyrannosaurus rex, dubbed Bucky the T. rex, to the terminal.

Pizza gets a place of pride

Connecticut, long known as ‘The Nutmeg State,’ also boasts of being home to the nation’s best pizza.

There’s a 20-stop Pizza Trail for pizza fans to test out the claim. And, this year a pizza-inspired artwork was installed at Tweed New Haven Airport (HVN).

Titled, “The Pizza State,” the art piece is made of Connecticut highway signs (which we’re sure were secured legally) and celebrates New Haven-style pizza.

The artist is Michael Pollack of the creative entity known as the New Haven Pizza Club (NHVPC).

A speakeasy & a roof-loving rap video for Portland International Airport

There’s a lot to love about the new main hall in Portland International Airport (PDX) that opened in 2024, including live trees, cool shops, restaurants and bars, and hang out areas that bring back the beloved PDX carpet pattern.

This year, PDX also sprouted the country’s first airport speakeasy and scored a rap video singing the praises of the airport’s 9-acre wooden roof.

Cribbage tables for travelers

The Customer Experience Team at Maine’s Portland International Jetport (PWM), gained loads of fans a while back when they set up communal jigsaw-puzzle tables to entertain and relax travelers waiting for their flights.

Now the airport has a new amenity: custom-made Maine-themed cribbage tables where both novice and seasoned plays can sit down for a game before a flight.

Lots more airports you can visit without a plane ticket

With the late December introduction of the OAK Guest Pass Program at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) and the reboot of Tampa International’s TPA All Access Pass and the Experience MCO Visitor Pass Program at Orlando International Airport (MCO), we now have 20 airports around the country that welcome guests into the secure side of the terminals.

We’ll add more of our favorite new airport amenities from 2025 tomorrow. But let us know if you spotted a new airport amenity this year that we deserves some praise.

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