Portland International Airport (PDX) News

[philopdx]

In terms of traffic, second tier seems like an appropriate description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_the_United_States

[rsbear]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

Second tier, huh? Is that why we're always rated #1 in US airport rankings? And I don't know what your definition of "major" hub is, but Alaska certainly seems to think we are.

Who the heck would want PDX to be a major hub? Hubs are pass-through transfer points for people who don't live the catch basis for the airport. They're typically congested because of all the people in the airport that are neither originating in the local city or deplaning there. And when something goes bad (weather) they become f*cking hell. Hubs also are subject to monopolistic airfare pricing and the folks using the airport for O&D pay higher fares than they do at airports (like PDX) that are not dominated by a single carrier. Major hub? No thanks!

More direct flights domestically and internationally would be great. And PDX will get them as the local market grows. But being a major hub should not be the goal.

[zilfondel]

Originally Posted by philopdx

In terms of traffic, second tier seems like an appropriate description.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_the_United_States

But the second list puts us at total passenger traffic #30 in the US.

According to wiki, our traffic went from 13.7 million in 2011 to 15 million in 2013, while several airports are declining in passenger traffic. Portland may end up in the top 30 sometime soon.

[philopdx]

Originally Posted by zilfondel

But the second list puts us at total passenger traffic #30 in the US.

According to wiki, our traffic went from 13.7 million in 2011 to 15 million in 2013, while several airports are declining in passenger traffic. Portland may end up in the top 30 sometime soon.

The top 20 average out to 43.481 million passengers a year. The big dog is ATL with 92 million. When we hit 20-25 million, THEN let's talk about being a top-tier airport in terms of traffic. And that would be the bottom end of the top-tier.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by philopdx

The top 20 average out to 43.481 million passengers a year. The big dog is ATL with 92 million. When we hit 20-25 million, THEN let's talk about being a top-tier airport in terms of traffic. And that would be the bottom end of the top-tier.

A little off topic, but for how busy Atlanta's airport is, I have never flown through that airport.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

A little off topic, but for how busy Atlanta's airport is, I have never flown through that airport.

I never have either, I've even gone out of my way to fly through there before (just to say I did) and I couldn't make it happen.

[RED_PDXer]

It would be nice to have more international non-stop destinations, but similar to other previous posts, I just don't see that happening due to some airline picking PDX for a hub. It will only happen as the region's economy grows.

I'm finally going on my first international trip and to get the best prices, I had to fly out of SEA. Would be nice to someday have those options here.

[Tanaka07]

Spirit Airlines starting nonstop PDX-Chicago service

1x daily starts May 22, 2014.

February 11, 2014
Spirit Airlines Announces New Nonstop Service between Chicago and Baltimore/Washington and Portland, OR
MIRAMAR, Fla. (February 11, 2014) - Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ: SAVE) announced new nonstop seasonal service between Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and Portland International Airport (PDX). This new service will consist of one daily seasonal nonstop flight each operating between May 22, 2014 and November 1, 2014.

"We are pleased to offer new nonstop service from Chicago to the Baltimore/Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon areas," said Mark Kopczak, Spirit's Vice President of Network Planning. "Spirit offers ultra-low fares plus optional services for a total price that is tough to beat. This means visitors are left with more in their wallet to explore the various attractions Chicago, Baltimore/Washington and Portland have to offer."

Spirit also recently announced new service from Chicago to Oakland/San Francisco Bay and from Baltimore/Washington to Minneapolis-St. Paul starting May 1, 2014. With all of these new routes, Spirit will offer nonstop service to 18 cities from Chicago, six cities from Baltimore/Washington and four cities from Portland.

"On behalf of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, I want to thank Spirit Airlines for showing a strong commitment to the Chicago market by continuing to grow the number of destinations it serves from O'Hare International Airport," said Rosemarie S. Andolino, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation. "Spirit's new low-fare flights to Baltimore and Portland bring more competition to Chicago's airports and provide more options and choices for travelers."

"The further expansion from Spirit Airlines highlights the strength and value of our market," said Paul J. Wiedefeld, Chief Executive Officer of BWI Marshall Airport. "I'm pleased that Spirit continues to offer new low-fare service for our customers. Travelers from across the region will benefit from these additional flight options."

"Spirit Airlines now offers PDX travelers more ways to reach the Windy City," said David Zielke, PDX air service development general manager for Port of Portland. "Chicago is one of our key destinations with more than 300,000 travelers flying each year between PDX and the Chicago region. We congratulate Spirit Airlines on their continued expansion at PDX."

Customers can check out the insanely low fares on flights and vacation packages offered every day at www.spirit.com and also sign up to receive email alerts on Spirit's deals and offers.

http://ir.spirit.com/releases.cfm?ReleasesType=

[Tanaka07]

Alaska to start nonstop PDX-Kalispell, Montana

1x daily starting June 9, 2014



http://splash.alaskasworld.com/Newsroom/ASNews/ASstories/AS_20140211_055612.asp

[edirp]

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index...books_plans_to_shutter.html#incart_river

[Tanaka07]

Frontier Airlines starting nonstop PDX-St. Louis service

Starts June 15, 2014

“Frontier’s expansion of flights from St. Louis really addresses two top targets of service for this Airport with a new non-stop destination to Portland, Ore., and additional service to San Francisco,” said Lambert Director Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge. “Trenton is also a new non-stop market and we believe it will be very attractive for both business and leisure travelers who want more price-conscious options to reach numerous destinations between New York City and Philadelphia.”

Following is the schedule for Frontier’s new St. Louis – Portland service**:
Route: Portland
Effective: June 15, 2014
Frequency: Tues/Thurs/Sun
Aircraft: A320

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/02/prweb11596948.htm

[twofiftyfive]

Originally Posted by Tanaka07

Frontier Airlines starting nonstop PDX-St. Louis service

Holy cow, I hope this lasts. My wife and I used to fly non-stop to St. Louis when we first moved to Portland (I can't remember which airline), but it was discontinued soon after.

[pdxtraveler]

Originally Posted by twofiftyfive

Holy cow, I hope this lasts. My wife and I used to fly non-stop to St. Louis when we first moved to Portland (I can't remember which airline), but it was discontinued soon after.

Most likely TWA. St Louis was there primary hub. American pretty much shut it down after they acquired TWA. It is kind of sad, St. Louis had service to all over the world with TWA, now they have considerably less traffic than PDX.

[Derek]

So I was browsing PDXs Wikipedia page just now, it looks like Air Canada is resuming service to Toronto starting in June.

[Tanaka07]

Poll: What should improve at the Portland Airport

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index....d_be_ma.html#incart_river#incart_opinion

International flights make Oregon much more competitive in the global economy.

[Tanaka07]

Southwest Plans nonstop PDX-Dallas Love field service for 2015

http://www.swamedia.com/releases/southwe...ield-with-access-to-two-additional-gates

"These 12 new nonstop destinations would be added to Southwest's schedule if the airline is able to obtain the rights to two Love Field gates that American Airlines must relinquish under the terms of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. These destinations would be in addition to the 15 cities that Southwest previously announced it would serve from Love Field beginning later this year, and five new nonstop destinations currently planned for service in 2015 that Southwest announces today:

Boston, Mass. (Boston Logan)
Oakland, Calif.
Panama City Beach, Fla.
Portland, Ore.
San Jose, Calif."

[tworivers]

Alaska Airlines drops PDX flights to Atlanta, Long Beach
Ben Miller
Contributing Editor- Puget Sound Business Journal
Mar 28, 2014, 7:51am PDT

Alaska Airlines said it will cut some flights flying out of Portland in the late summer.

The airline will drop some routes from its schedule including flights between Portland and Atlanta on Sept. 1. A week before that, it will drop flights between Portland and Long Beach, Calif.

At the same time, the airline will be begin flying from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Baltimore and Albuquerque, N.M. beginning in September.

.....

Last month, Alaska said it will begin flying nonstop from Seattle to New Orleans, Tampa, and Detroit.

"By exiting underperforming markets, we're able to redeploy aircraft and begin flying to new and underserved markets from Seattle," said Andrew Harrison, vice president of planning and revenue management, in a statement.

[jaxg8r1]

Ive flown that Long Beach route several times and always had a full plane...weird.

[Derek]

I'd be curious to see Delta's versus Alaska's passenger traffic between PDX and ATL.


Seattle's been getting a lot of attention recently, which sucks for us.

[Derek]

Not really news, but I found an interesting flight while I was bored last night on flightaware.com. It was a Delta A319 going from Portland to Calgary very early in the morning.



Special charter? There wasn't anything special going on last night in Portland that I'm aware of.