PITTSBURGH (TNS) — Pittsburgh International Airport’s burgeoning cargo business is triggering a building boom.

The airport is preparing to erect the largest cargo building in its history after experiencing its busiest year for freight since 2004.

It will be one of two new cargo buildings under development at the Findlay airport in the wake of a year that saw a surge in e-commerce and international shipments during the pandemic.

Bryan Dietz, senior vice president of air service and commercial development, said the airport is making the commitments to ensure that it will have the capacity to meet future needs.

It is seeing “robust demand, and we’re at capacity in many of our buildings,” he said.

The largest building, about 140,000 square feet, will be constructed by Aeroterm Inc. on up to 8.77 acres of land. Allegheny County Airport Authority board members approved a ground lease Friday to clear the way for the development.

Mr. Dietz said the facility will be built behind the Airside Business Park on a plot of land that once was part of the old airport terminal in Moon, circa 1952, that was demolished after the midfield complex opened in 1992.

”It’s a great reuse of the past that’s going to set us up for the future,” he said.

Annapolis, Maryland-based Aeroterm was selected through a request for proposals to develop the building. The company has expertise in building cargo facilities at airports.

Pittsburgh International hopes to have the facility open by the second quarter of 2023.

While the building can be used for a variety of cargo purposes, Mr. Dietz said it likely will end up serving international freight.

”It does not have to be just for international air cargo, but that likely will be its greatest use because that’s where we see growth coming from,” he said.

Qatar Airways, which first launched twice-weekly service in Pittsburgh in 2017, now has up to three or four flights a week.

In its first year, it collected $1.48 million in subsidies from the airport after failing to meet tonnage goals. After suspending the flight in late 2019, it returned a year later — without any subsidies — and has now established a foothold at Pittsburgh International.

Until recently, Cathay Pacific Airways had been operating twice weekly flights between Hanoi, Vietnam, and Pittsburgh, with a stop at its cargo hub in Hong Kong.

The flight currently is suspended because of issues in Hong Kong, but Mr. Dietz said other carriers are picking up some of the freight that normally would be hauled by Cathay Pacific.

Authority board members approved the Aeroterm lease after another strong month for cargo at the airport. Overall volume was up 14% in January compared to the same month last year.

Cargo totaled nearly 250 million pounds for all of 2021, up 30% over 2020 and 26% over 2019.

Another big factor in the cargo surge has been e-commerce behemoth Amazon Air, which launched service in Pittsburgh with a daily flight last May.

Since then, it has added another daily flight and risen to become the airport’s third largest cargo carrier with 12.7% of the traffic in January. Qatar accounted for 3.8%. The biggest haulers are FedEx and UPS, with 44.5% and 32.7% of the traffic, respectively.

The Aeroterm building will supplement another new facility totaling nearly 80,000 square feet being developed by the airport authority.

That structure, funded with the help of a $18.69 million federal grant, will include warehouse and office space as well as 17 loading docks capable of handling any airplane flying today.

It also will be able to segregate cargo and accommodate goods that are temperature controlled or sensitive. It is scheduled to open in 2024.

The two new buildings will add to the airport’s four true existing cargo buildings and two others that have been converted for that use because of growing demand. The biggest current building is 70,800 square feet.

Mr. Dietz said the new buildings will help the airport in its drive to become an international cargo center.

Experts have said that Pittsburgh is benefiting from congestion at major cargo hubs in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles as haulers look for alternative airports to unload their goods.

”We’re expecting to see air cargo growing,” Mr. Dietz said. “We’re competing globally for business. We’re watching the supply chain closely so that we can continue to support the industry where it’s needed.”

The Aeroterm ground lease will be for 30 years with two 10-year renewal options. For the first year, ground rent revenue will be $244,000. In addition to the ground rent, the company will pay at least 5% of its annual gross revenue from the project to the authority.

”For us, the building’s more than four walls and a roof,” Mr. Dietz said. “It’s enabling a new part of the Pittsburgh economy.”

The agreement was approved the same day the authority board also got good news on the passenger travel front, with traffic up 107.5% in January.