Portland International Airport (PDX) News

[sopdx]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

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.

I'm assuming from NW/Alaskan cities to California and points south and east. JFK PDX BOI and so on.

I wonder and perhaps someone can clarify this for me, doesn't it seem that SEA will reach a saturation point to flights to Asia? Maybe Alaska's plan is to starve out other carriers.

Also, considering so many flights connecting through PDX, wouldn't it make sense to have at least one Hawaiian flight from PDX to Asia?

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by sopdx

I'm assuming from NW/Alaskan cities to California and points south and east. JFK PDX BOI and so on.

I wonder and perhaps someone can clarify this for me, doesn't it seem that SEA will reach a saturation point to flights to Asia? Maybe Alaska's plan is to starve out other carriers.

Also, considering so many flights connecting through PDX, wouldn't it make sense to have at least one Hawaiian flight from PDX to Asia?

I think Alaska's point IS to starve out other carriers. Delta made a huge push into SEA around the 2000's, and encroached on Alaska's turf, which I then think is was prompted Alaska to finally tie up with American (previously being proudly independent). Airlines need to win turf wars to allow them to jack up prices and earn profits.

Agree on your latter statement, and that would be something I could see increasing a significant need for connecting flights.

[mhays]

The equilibrium point for overseas flights at Sea-Tac should be pretty high.

The airlines needed capacity in the PNW but it was limited. Sea-Tac has addressed this by adding a new runway to enable two-runway service in bad visibility and more recently building a far larger international arrivals facility. This has brought a long ramp up in international flights at Sea-Tac since 2010 or so, with last year's 6,588,580 easily a record high. That included Europe at 2,000,365 and Asia at 2,197,209. This year Jan-Mar has trended toward the mid-7s though Mar lost some steam.

My guess is it'll grow by a couple million in the next 5-10 years if the administration tones things down.

[babs]

Originally Posted by PhillyPDX

I think Alaska's point IS to starve out other carriers. Delta made a huge push into SEA around the 2000's, and encroached on Alaska's turf, which I then think is was prompted Alaska to finally tie up with American (previously being proudly independent). Airlines need to win turf wars to allow them to jack up prices and earn profits.

Agree on your latter statement, and that would be something I could see increasing a significant need for connecting flights.

I remember reading about this previously. The reason Alaska joined OneWorld was twofold. One, to counter Delta in Seattle. And Second, several large Seattle area companies had told Alaska, they were going to take their business to Delta since Delta offered a much larger network. Most of this growth in Seattle is to hold on to those extremely valuable Seattle corporate accounts.

[maccoinnich]

The final roof cassette is now in place

• Video Link

[uncommon.name]

Reminder that Allegient Air's PDX route expansion begins this month to the following Airports:
Fresno, California, flights begin May 22. Introductory fares start at $49 one-way.
Cincinnati flights begin May 23. Introductory fares start at $79 one-way.
Flint, Michigan, flights begin May 23. Introductory fares start at $79 one-way.
Indianapolis flights begin May 23. Introductory fares start at $49 one-way.

[PhillyPDX]

Interesting. I wonder how PDX might play into all of this.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2025/05/alaska-will-fly-sea-tac-to-europe-next-year.htm

[maccoinnich]

In the immediate future, it won't. Alaska has said that they're only planning new long haul flights out of Seattle. Aside from anything else, they don't have the fleet to start adding long haul routes from their other hubs.

[subterranean]

Not that there haven't been a bunch of photos posted already, but I did snap a few on my way out of town last week. I posted them at the top of this photo thread.

It looks better in person than I had seen in pictures previously. Overall, I found the baggage drop and security check for Alaska to be a much more pleasant experience. The automated, round security bin stations were a super nice touch and kept things moving really smoothly. I also found the main atrium to be really pretty quiet considering how many people were moving through there, which was kind of a surprising but welcome consequence of the materials used.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by subterranean

Not that there haven't been a bunch of photos posted already, but I did snap a few on my way out of town last week. I posted them at the top of this photo thread.

It looks better in person than I had seen in pictures previously. Overall, I found the baggage drop and security check for Alaska to be a much more pleasant experience. The automated, round security bin stations were a super nice touch and kept things moving really smoothly. I also found the main atrium to be really pretty quiet considering how many people were moving through there, which was kind of a surprising but welcome consequence of the materials used.

It really has a nice flow. And once the project is complete, the main terminal/ticketing area will be even quieter since arriving passengers will no longer be routed through there, but through new exit lanes on the north and south sides. The current setup, although frustrating because of the long construction detours, is pretty cool because you can sit on the central bleacher seating to watch for the arriving passengers.

[maccoinnich]

Agenda for tomorrow’s PDX 2045 Planning Advisory Committee meeting: https://pdx2045.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PDX2045_PACmtg7_Agenda.pdf

[mhays]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

In the immediate future, it won't. Alaska has said that they're only planning new long haul flights out of Seattle. Aside from anything else, they don't have the fleet to start adding long haul routes from their other hubs.

I assume they'd want to fly to Seattle from anywhere else they fly. They have to if the goal is to funnel people to the international routes. However maybe they don't need the fourth flight per day. Maybe it's three per day, and Portland also gets three.

[maccoinnich]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Agenda for tomorrow’s PDX 2045 Planning Advisory Committee meeting: https://pdx2045.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/PDX2045_PACmtg7_Agenda.pdf

I'm listening to the meeting at the moment. They have presented four options:

1. Concourses C and D Expansion
2. Concourse E Expansion
3. Concourse E Expansion (with International Arrivals Facility)
4. Concourse D and E Expansion[Concourse D and E Expansion

They haven't gotten into specifics as where the International Arrivals Facility (IAF) would be in any of these scenarios, and said it could be at the lower (deplaning) level or at the mezzanine level; but probably not in between at the main (enplaning) level. They also haven't gotten into specifics about how passengers would get back to the main terminal from the IAF.

[maccoinnich]

Here's a link to the powerpoint presentation from Monday, which illustrates the options I described above.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

Here's a link to the powerpoint presentation from Monday, which illustrates the options I described above.

Thanks for sharing! It might be easier to just expand one of the concourses, like E, and include the International Arrivals Facility in the new construction. I don’t know the details of how the current setup works, but it seems like getting rid of the bus transport for these arrivals really needs to happen. With Sea Tac saturated these days, a beautiful and efficient PDX facility could really help attract more international nonstops.

[mhays]

Sea-Tac is not saturated for international flights, though it is for domestic carriers. International arrivals capacity more than doubled a few years ago (raising from 600 to 1,400 per hour iirc), and several existing gates were renovated to make them international-capable at the same time for a total of 20 international gates. I'd guess the airport can get to 10,000,000 international passengers per year with the current setup, and it'll be in the 7,000,000 range this year.

[downtownpdx]

Just a note for plane spotting fans - I noticed on a short walk this morning (the nearby park offers a nice view of the PDX arrivals flight path from the east) a constant stream of about 25 planes from 9:25 to 9:35 am. I’m pretty sure only one wasn’t Alaska Airlines, so the new “banked” hub schedule was definitely on display. Fun to see.

[maccoinnich]

In good news, Icelandair is going daily next summer, and restarting service for the year in March instead of May.

In bad news, it looks like Condor won't be operating to Portland next year. In looking at the PDF of their summer 2026 timetable, Portland has disappeared along with Las Vegas, Miami, Calgary, Anchorage. And that's on top of them canceling service to Baltimore/Washington, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Antonio, Edmonton and Halifax for summer 2025.

Hopefully the Port can secure some additional summer seasonal service for 2026, and/or work with KLM to bring back daily flights to Amsterdam.

[downtownpdx]

Good to hear about Icelandair. That’s a bummer about Condor, I hear the planes have been pretty full from PDX, but that doesn’t always translate into profits. Perhaps the recent political climate is dampening foreign travel and this is an example of the fallout.

[PhillyPDX]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Just a note for plane spotting fans - I noticed on a short walk this morning (the nearby park offers a nice view of the PDX arrivals flight path from the east) a constant stream of about 25 planes from 9:25 to 9:35 am. I’m pretty sure only one wasn’t Alaska Airlines, so the new “banked” hub schedule was definitely on display. Fun to see.

Suddenly I’m scared of the banked flights with recent FAA chaos. Can we go back to staggered?