A gas turbine engine airfoil has a hollow airfoil section extending chordwise between a leading edge and a trailing edge. The airfoil has a leading edge cooling passage and a separate serpentine passage for cooling a remaining portion of the airfoil. The serpentine passage has at least three segment serially interconnected in fluid flow communication. The leading edge cooling passage and the serpentine cooling passage have separate coolant inlets. The coolant inlet of the serpentine passage comprises a primary inlet branch connected in fluid flow communication with a first one of the segments of the serpentine passage and a secondary inlet branch connected in flow communication with a last one of the segments, thereby providing for a portion of the flow passing through the coolant inlet of the serpentine passage to be directly fed into the last segment of the serpentine passage.