It all began with a scribble on the back of a receipt.

When Pittsburgh International Airport CEO Christina Cassotis was discussing with other aviation leaders her dilemma about what to do about Pittsburgh’s way-too-big-and-outdated airport, Jeff Fegan, former CEO of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, had an idea.

He made the bold suggestion of moving the landside terminal building over to the airside terminal — making it one complex. Why do you need two buildings, connected by a half-mile tram? He illustrated his idea on the back of a restaurant receipt dated April 2, 2015.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great idea,’” Cassotis recalled at the time. The scribble evolved into a rough blueprint for the $1.7 billion terminal that is on track to open this fall.

City and regional le

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