Pittsburgh International Airport wants its old terminal to get a second act, this time on the big screen. The airport has quietly started pitching its idle landside building as a movie studio and location campus for film and television productions, turning a once-bustling hub into a potential backlot.
The cavernous, 1990s-era structure, with its long concourses, empty gate areas, and freight access, is being sold to producers as a ready-made set that could spare them the cost of building massive interiors from scratch. The building has sat largely unused since the airport opened a new landside terminal in November 2025.
Airport officials have circulated marketing materials that describe the space to location managers and production companies, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. The report notes that the landside terminal first opened in 1992 and has been mostly idle since operations shifted to the newer facility.
New Terminal Left Big Spaces Behind
The airport’s new landside terminal, a $1.7 billion project that opened in November 2025, pulled ticketing, security, and baggage into a single modern building. That reconfiguration, highlighted when Pittsburgh welcomed its new $1.7 billion terminal, effectively sidelined the older structure and left it available for other uses.
Now, instead of passengers and rolling suitcases, airport leaders are hoping the old concourses might be filled with cameras, lighting rigs, and craft services tables.
Why Studios Might Bite
Pennsylvania’s film tax incentives and an already active local production scene have been drawing shoots and investment to the state. The commonwealth recently approved a $49.8 million award to an HBO series, and says its Film Production Tax Credit has supported thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in spending, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development.
In that context, an empty terminal that already looks like, well, an airport could be an easy sell for production teams working on tight timelines and tighter budgets.
Local Studio Plans Already in Motion
The airport is not the only player trying to turn Pittsburgh into a production hub. The region has already seen proposals for purpose-built studio space, with redevelopers and the Pittsburgh Film Office discussing sound stages and a dedicated production campus.
The Regional Industrial Development Corporation, for example, has been working on the Carrie Furnace redevelopment and has pitched a "Film Furnace" campus as part of those plans, according to RIDC.
Challenges Ahead
Turning an airport terminal into a functioning production complex is not as simple as rolling out a red carpet. The space would need major upgrades, including acoustic treatment, additional power, and more robust loading docks, along with ample crew parking and tight security coordination with federal agencies.
Insurance, permitting, and day-to-day logistics could also complicate the plan, shifting a seemingly quick factory-to-studio style conversion into a longer, more involved project.
For now, the Allegheny County Airport Authority is marketing the property to location scouts and production companies. Whether Hollywood bites will likely come down to budgets, shooting schedules, and whether producers prefer to build sets from scratch or take advantage of existing airport-scale interiors. If a production does move in, the reuse could put local crews to work and transform a dormant piece of public infrastructure into a high-profile economic engine for the region.
