Pittsburgh International Airport

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

Drama at Dallas Love Field

Operations resumed late Monday afternoon at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) after a frightening incident involving shots fired inside the terminal building.

According to Dallas police, a woman entered the airport near the ticket counter, went into a bathroom, and exited wearing a hoodie and brandishing a gun. She began shooting at the ceiling and was taken into custody after being wounded by a Dallas police officer on duty.

No one else was injured, but flights were grounded for several hours. All passengers had to be rescreened, more than 1000 flights were delayed, and more than 100 flights were canceled as a result of the incident.

Portland International Airport roof report

Portland International Airport (PDX) is getting a new timber roof and it’s both quite impressive and quite a complicated undertaking.

Here’s a short video showing one of the important steps it takes to install a 9-acre mass timber roof over an existing terminal.

Here’s what it will look like when the project is done.

Meanwhile, over at PIT Airport

As long as we’re looking at time-lapse construction videos, here’s one from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), where they’re building a new terminal.

Airport news from here and there

MKE’s Coat Check service, holiday decor, & Santa sightings

Check your winter coat at MKE

One of the smartest, best, and most reasonably-priced seasonal airport amenities has returned for a third winter to Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE): coat check service.

Offered in partnership with Paradies Lagardère inside the pre-security Summerfest
Marketplace, the service allows travelers heading to warm clime the option of checking their winter coats for just $2/day or $10 a trip. The service is available 7 days a week and will be offering through at least the beginning of winter.

Santa, elves, and more holiday fun at airports

Like many other travelers, we had to cancel our holiday flights due to COVID-19 concerns. But we’re still keeping an eye on all the fun things airports are rolling out to celebrate the season.

Here are few things we spotted on Wednesday.

And look at these snaps shared by Washington’s IAD & DCA Airports

Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) have done a great job of lighting and decorating the terminals. Thanks so much for sharing the slide show.

Put your name on Helsinki Airport. Plus more airport & airline news.

Want an airport named after you? It’s easy. In Finland

Dulles International Airport. John F. Kennedy International Airport. Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

It’s a big deal to have an airport named for you.

In Finland, though, anyone can have Helsinkin Airport named for them. At least for a few moments.

Finavia Corporation, which manages Finland’s airport network has created a way for anyone to have their name put on the front of the Helsinki Airport terminal buildl long enough to snap a selfie or two.

Here’s how to make it happen for you.

Go to www.myhelsinkiairport.fi, put your name in the form, and hit submit.

Your entry will be reviewed to make sure it’s not off-color or inappropriate. And then, depending on how many requests are in ahead of you, your name will appear over the Helsinki Airport sign on the front of the terminal.

We tested it out and filled out the form early morning Finland time from Seattle. Then we watched on the website as our name popped up on the airport sign within seconds.

Unfortunately, of course, we couldn’t get a selfie with our sign because were weren’t standing out in front of the airport in person. But we’re determined to get there so we can get that snap.

In the meatime, we’re declaring this Airport Amenity of the Week. Agree?

Holidays at Airports and in the Air

We’re gathering up news of holiday events and amenities being rolled out by airports and airlines.

Here are a few to round out the week.

Let us know what we’re missing at your airport.

What’s in store at Pittsburgh Intl Airport’s new terminal?

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) has broken ground on a new $1.4 billion new terminal building.

The project is the first new airport to be built from the ground up in the post-pandemic world. And it would be a big deal even if we weren’t coming out of a travel-stopping pandemic.

With the new facility, Pittsburgh International Airport is promising many new “airport of the future” features and amenities. Highlights include 90,000 square feet of outdoor terraces, a rainwater harvesting program, and emerging touchless technology.

Even better, the new terminal will be super-green and powered by the airport’s own microgrid, which is fueled by 10,000 solar panels and five natural gas generators.

Does this sound like an airport you can’t wait to visit? The terminal won’t be completed until 2025. But in the meantime, here are some of the renderings of the new building that have been shared around so far.

We’re loving all the greenery.

Airports, airplanes & Alexander Calder

Courtesy Calder Foundation

July 22 was artist Alexander Calder’s birthday, giving us an excuse to share some photos of his work in airports and on airplanes.

The photo above is of Calder in 1957 inspecting the installation of his work originally titled .125, after the gauge of the aluminum elements in Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (then Idlewild Airport). The piece was later redubbed Flight.

Courtesy Library of Congress

Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) also has a work by Alexander Calder in its collection. This piece is titled, appropriately enough, Pittsburgh.

Courtesy Pittsburgh International Airport

Calder’s work also appeared on Braniff International Airways airplanes in the mid-1970s.

The first was a Douglas DC-8 known as Flying Colors of South America. The second was a Boeing 727-200 named Flying Colors of the United States.

Courtesy of the Calder Foundation

To learn more about the airplanes Calder painted for Braniff, see this article from 2020 by Chris Sloan in Airways Magazine.