Portland International Airport (PDX) News

[Derek]

Chow mein on top of macaroni salad? Interesting choice.

[MarkDaMan]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

And per this post on Bluesky, the Escape Lounge is now open.

Is this post renovation or is that still in the planning stage? The buffet area, flooring, and the lighting above it is terrible.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by MarkDaMan

Is this post renovation or is that still in the planning stage? The buffet area, flooring, and the lighting above it is terrible.

It's new 😂—the space is a former Delta Crown room that must have been been vacant for twenty years or so. You can see a rendering of the design intent for the buffet area here. I do agree that there are some... interesting... choices for a lounge designed in the mid 2020s.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

And per this post on Bluesky, the Escape Lounge is now open.

Very nice, I like those views over terminal and tarmac.

[M Kass]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

And per this post on Bluesky, the Escape Lounge is now open.

I have to get down there to take a look at this Escape Lounge situation. The gallery that represents me in town was able to place a couple of my paintings in prominent view corridors in the entry of the lounge. As per usual with these sorts of things, they promised to invite artists to preview the space before opening, but that never materialized. .

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

It's new 😂—the space is a former Delta Crown room that must have been been vacant for twenty years or so. You can see a rendering of the design intent for the buffet area here. I do agree that there are some... interesting... choices for a lounge designed in the mid 2020s.

Haha yeah.. while the view looks nice that is a strange lil room and the food images are not appetizing😆

[maccoinnich]

I was initially a little concerned about the Escape Lounge's 7PM closing time, but it appears that's temporary (per this newsletter):

Did you know that any ticketed passenger can access Escape Lounges, regardless of which airline they're flying with? Last week, the Escape Lounge at PDX soft opened with limited operating hours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Thursday, April 3, they'll officially launch with regular hours: 3:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. The lounge is located at the end of Concourse D.

[maccoinnich]

These hours are now reflected on the webpage for the lounge.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Agenda for this evening’s PDX 2045 PAC meeting, which includes presentations on International Air Service Development, PDX’s International Arrivals Facility and Terminal Expansion Considerations.

Location: Port of Portland headquarters, Chinook Room: 7200 N.E. Airport Way, Portland, OR 97218 (the Chinook Room is on the 8th floor, near the reception desk)

Webinar link (Zoom): https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83320636352

Meeting 6 Presentation (PDF)

[downtownpdx]

THE COOLEST AIRPORT NOW HAS A SPEAKEASY

https://stuckattheairport.com/2025/04/15/the-coolest-airport-now-has-a-speakeasy/
April 15, 2025

pdx-speakeasy-2 by Ryan Miller, on Flickr

pdx-speakeasy-1 by Ryan Miller, on Flickr

Locals and visitors have been raving about the ZGF-designed main terminal expansion at Oregon’s Portland International Airport (PDX) since it officially opened to the public in August, 2024.

Everyone loves the greenery, the 9-acre mass timber roof, outposts of beloved local shops and restaurants, the comfy lounging spots sporting bits of the famed PDX carpet and the fact that the coolest new amenities are pre-security.

Now there’s one more reason to make a beeline to PDX even if you’re not flying.

PDX now has a speakeasy bar, called Aurora, hidden inside Loyal Legion, the pre-security beer hall on the mezzanine level.

The celestial-inspired bar is named after the Roman goddess of dawn and was designed by Portland-based ELK Collective.

And rather than being speakeasy-dark, Aurora has a bright, art-deco interior, technicolor window treatments and west-facing windows offering views of the runway and Portland sunsets.

(continues)

[bvpcvm]

Wondering about the near-term viability of our international flights, given the drops in bookings by Europeans to the US, and general uncertainty going forward. I flew back from LHR on BA today and the flight was only about 80% full (outbound was totally full at the beginning of April). Any thoughts/predictions? Do we have any idea what general thresholds airlines might use to cut flights?

[Derek]

Anecdotal but I flew to/from London April 11/17 and both flights only had a spattering of empty seats. First and Club World appeared to be completely full.

[colossalorder]

How was full were the business class sections? That's the key indicator ... business class is something like 75% of airline profits. I believe that is particularly true on long haul international. If they aren't filling those seats, the direct international flights from PDX are probably vulnerable. They need the business travelers and/or wealthy people flying to make money on those flights.

I'd think between President Chaos setting fire to the global economy (and international business in particular) ... and local Portland politics killing businesses and sending the rich away ... the outlook doesn't feel awesome right now.

[maccoinnich]

Hard to tell what the future holds, but right now things are looking good. PDX finished 2024 with international passengers just over 2019 levels (including Icelandair substantially up relative to pre-pandemic). KLM recently upped the winter 2025/26 schedule from 3x a week to 4x week.

I do think the current chaos makes it extremely difficult to recruit any new service, but I'm hopeful that the strong transatlantic performance in 2024 makes us somewhat resilient in a downturn.

[bvpcvm]

Originally Posted by colossalorder

How was full were the business class sections?

Business class was full on this flight, but I was told that the next three flights it's reversed, with with economy full but business class not. Obviously, it's all anecdotal. As long as we can keep the IcelandAir flight, I'll be happy - it's just so easy.

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by bvpcvm

Business class was full on this flight, but I was told that the next three flights it's reversed, with with economy full but business class not. Obviously, it's all anecdotal. As long as we can keep the IcelandAir flight, I'll be happy - it's just so easy.

I have access to expertflyer.com and can check availability and seating on ba 266 and ba 267. Almost all days all classes sold out. Business and premium ecconomy not a single seat on the day of travel. I think they are super busy.

[maccoinnich]

PDX March 2025 Statistics (PDF). Total passengers up 6.4% YOY and 8.4% YTD, however International is down 14.8% YOY and 9.4% YTD. Alaska mainline is up 21.5% YOY and 26.6% YTD.

It's hard to tell exactly where the decline in the international numbers comes from. Volaris is down, but not enough to account for all the decline. British Airways is up a lot (likely as a result of KLM operating with less frequency to Amsterdam than Delta did).

[maccoinnich]

This is mostly just re-confirming what Alaska first announced in December, but interesting to see that connections are up 200% for May and June.

Portland will be ‘relief valve’ to Seattle hub, major airline says



As Alaska Airlines embarks on its mission to become a trans-Pacific carrier, connecting the West Coast to Asia, its Seattle hub will be the center of connections.

Neighboring Portland, then, will be the “relief valve,” CEO Ben Minicucci told financial analysts on an earnings call Thursday.

As Alaska expands its international destinations, it will shuffle some connecting flights that would have routed through Seattle to stop in Portland instead. That frees up room in the Seattle airspace for local travelers and flights that would be better served by passing through the Puget Sound region, like connections to Tokyo, Japan, Ketchikan, Alaska and Bellingham.

In Seattle, connecting traffic was up 15% in the first quarter this year compared to the year before.

In Portland, connecting bookings are up 200% in May and June, the first two full months of Alaska’s new connections structure.

...continues at the Oregonian.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

This is mostly just re-conforming what Alaska first announced in December, but interesting to see that connections are up 200% for May and June.



...continues at the Oregonian.

I’m still confused what this means. Pushing Seattle as the international/big hub moves more connecting flights to pdx? Connecting to where, Seattle? Not international, obviously, outside maybe some codeshare connections.

Per BTS website, Alaska carried 10% fewer passenger out of pdx in 2024 than it did in 2018 (peak year), and Jan 2025 is 2% lower than Jan 2020 (just before Covid was the peak). So where exactly are these 200% increase in connecting flights going? Hawaiian also decreased YOY Jan 2024-2025.

[maccoinnich]

Where we've seen Alaska add a lot capacity out of Portland is to smaller west coast cities, including Boise, Eugene, Bend/Redmond, Medford, Fresno, Anchorage, Boise, etc. From those cities, passengers can connect at PDX onto other destination in the Alaska/Hawaiian network, rather than doing so at SEA. That then frees up capacity in SEA for a) passengers going directly to or from the Seattle area or b) passengers connecting onto Alaska's new long haul flights out of SEA.

You won't see these connections showing up in the statistics yet, because the new schedule starts May 15. With that said, both Alaska mainline and Hawaiian are up year-to-date over this time in 2018 (March 2019 statistics seem to be missing). Horizon seems to be down, but that's probably canceled out by Skywest being up a lot (Skywest is now doing a lot more flying for Alaska than they used to do).