Appendix · Data visualization

The $1.75 billion terminal, by the numbers

A budget that rose 54 percent, a terminal built for a level of traffic Pittsburgh has not seen since the US Airways hub, and a bond stack the Airport Authority did not total on the day it cut the ribbon. Every figure traces to an archived, hashed source; run python 03-harness/check.py to confirm.

+54%
over the original budget (~$600M)
9.95M
2024 passengers, vs a 13-15M design
$1.25B
Modernization Program bonds outstanding (2024)
$2.5B
debt service to maturity, through 2056

The budget, four revisions

$1.1B announced in 2017; $1.7B final in 2025. The authority attributed the increase to "inflation and additional improvements."

$1.8B$1.5B$1.2B$0.9B $1.1B$1.39B$1.57B$1.7B 20172021 (+27%)2023 (+13%)2025 (+8%)

Source: 02-data/cost_revisions.csv, from the published story; escalation recomputed by 03-harness/build.py.

Built for the hub that left

The new terminal is designed for 13 to 15 million passengers a year. Demand has not touched that band since before US Airways de-hubbed Pittsburgh in December 2004.

passengers (millions) new terminal design capacity (13-15M)
design capacity 13-15M 1999200420132024 US Airways de-hubs, Dec 2004 ~20M15.1M7.8M9.95M
The gap. 2024 demand sits 31 to 51 percent below the terminal's design capacity. Airport officials did not explain, at the ribbon-cutting, why it was built for 13 to 15 million.

Source: 02-data/passengers.csv, capacity.csv, from the published story.

The debt the ribbon-cutting did not mention

At the event, the authority named $129.7M federal and $80M state and stopped there. The audited 2024 financial report supplies the rest.

$209.7M federal + state grants ~$1,658M airport revenue bonds (Series 2021 + 2023 + April 2025) $209.7M grants ~$1.66B revenue bonds Roughly 11 cents of every funding dollar is grant money; the rest is borrowed against airport revenues.
$832.67M
Series 2021 bonds (Aug 2021)
~$415M
Series 2023 bonds (Oct 2023)
~$410.5M
senior-lien bonds (Apr 2025)
$77-81M
annual debt service, 2026-2029
$2.505B
principal + interest to maturity (2056)
1.25×
debt-service coverage covenant

Source: 02-data/financing.csv, debt_service.csv, from the Allegheny County Airport Authority's audited 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (archived, hashed). Bonds fund the Terminal Modernization Program; the 2019 report shows the authority near debt-free beforehand.

The economic-impact claims

These are the authority's commissioned figures, archived and attributed, not independently verified here.

14,300
jobs claimed (7,800 direct + 6,500 indirect)
$2.5B
economic impact claimed
90%
local labor and materials, claimed
?
how many of 14,300 jobs are permanent — not disclosed

Source: 02-data/impact_claims.csv; the underlying commissioned economic-impact study is archived (acaa-economic-impact-study).

Pittsburgh Airport Terminal Record · Brian Nuckols · data CC BY 4.0. Companion to the reporting published in the West Hills Gazette, Oct. 11, 2025. Every number reproduces from the archived sources.