Travis McNichols is chief operations officer for the Allegheny County Airport Authority, which runs Pittsburgh International Airport and Allegheny County Airport. McNichols, who started in that role in 2020, is responsible for airport operations, and he’s one of the top management team members assembled by CEO Christina Cassotis. An Air Force veteran, he’s passionate about emergency services, airport operations and helping veterans transfer into civilian jobs.
What brought you to Pittsburgh?
I graduated from Seneca Valley, and that’s where I actually met my wife. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1997 and flew out of Pittsburgh International to basic training. I started my career leaving Pittsburgh and saw it as a good opportunity to come back about five years ago. I was active-duty for my entire Air Force career. We had the opportunity to live in Texas, in Colorado Springs, in Charleston, South Carolina. We were in England for four years, then we were in New Jersey for the final step. We really got the opportunity to see the world. I deployed to over 20 countries on top of that. I retired in 2013. I came back thinking, I’m going to set up my life in Pittsburgh, bring the grandkids back to their grandparents. Then I had this great offer from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. I went to New York in 2014 and worked there at five airports. I had the unique opportunity of setting up the fire department in New York (at the airports). They had police officers that were doing firefighter work, and the FAA didn’t like the way that was working, and so they mandated the change. I was the first fire chief of all five airports there.
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