Portland International Airport (PDX) News

[babs]

Originally Posted by Derek

PDX is currently on pace to serve 18.5 million passengers this year, plus with Horizon ditching their Q400s in favor of E175s it makes sense to add more actual jet bridges. I have a feeling PDX is going to see exponential growth with the E175s. Alaska is supposed to shift over to the E gates within the next couple of years anyways which would help alleviate the congestion at the A gates.

The article is probably referring to the expansion of Concourse E. PDX is not short on standard jet gates. The ones at the end of C and D, are used very little. It is however short on RON (Remain Over Night) parking spots since so many planes fly in at night and then leave during the morning. These don't need to be tied to a gate but they do need more room to park these overnight.

My guess is that they paused the expansion of E to talk to Alaska further since the expansion was so set on gates for the Q400. They may now look at ground level gates/jetbridges that are suited for the E175s.

Beyond whatever happens with E, the next major project at PDX is a complete overhaul of the central terminal. The drawings I have seen appear to turn ticket counters 90 degrees and vastly expand security. The shops will all be post security.

[Derek]

Oh yeah, there's plenty of under-utilized gates. I just don't think there's enough gates where Alaska specifically wants them.

[downtownpdx]

The baggage claim could use a remodel, it's pretty bland down there for an area that's supposed to be welcoming people from around the world to Portland. There used to be scenic photos etc all over the walls... something along those lines, local art, would make it more interesting.

[PDX2016]

Update:

The Concourse E extension project is part of PDXNext: Terminal Balancing. Over the past few months, in some of our ongoing discussions with the airlines, it became clear that the original Concourse E extension plan needed to be revisited. Airline growth, coupled with evolving airline business needs has led us—in consultation with the airlines—to reevaluate and revise the project. We want to make sure we're creating the best plan for PDX and for the airlines serving our airport. The Terminal Balancing Project Team will revisit the project design and scope, reviewing activity forecasts, gate needs and other future requirements. There is still a need to balance the terminal and revisions to the project will reflect this requirement. We anticipate in the next 60-90 days we will better understand our path forward and look forward to sharing more information about the revised project when it is available.

[PDX2016]

Update:

http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/inde...d_alaska_airlines.html#incart_river_home

Now the picture is becoming even more clearer on why the revamped design is necessary and the construction has been delayed...These are definitely exciting time ahead for PDX..Stay tune.........

[downtownpdx]

Very cool! Sounds like Alaska / Horizon is buying these E175 jets, which basically look like a mini Boeing 737, to serve "long, thin" routes... destinations that are too far for the Q400 prop planes, but too small to fill a 737. One of the motivations is to compete with Delta in Seattle, who is aggressively expanding and trying to eat into Alaska's dominant market share. Delta has only jets, which passengers prefer, for its regional service rather than prop planes like Alaska. The bonus for PDX in all this would be more direct flights on these long/thin routes using the E175, rather than using turbo props to Seattle to make a transfer first. Alaska does use Bombardier jets for smaller flights already, but the E175 apparently has a wider, longer cabin. Sounds like Eugene is an example of a city that'll see these E175s from Seattle in place of turbo props... Alaska/Horizon will save $ on these routes with shorter flying times.

[babs]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Very cool! Sounds like Alaska / Horizon is buying these E175 jets, which basically look like a mini Boeing 737, to serve "long, thin" routes... destinations that are too far for the Q400 prop planes, but too small to fill a 737. One of the motivations is to compete with Delta in Seattle, who is aggressively expanding and trying to eat into Alaska's dominant market share. Delta has only jets, which passengers prefer, for its regional service rather than prop planes like Alaska. The bonus for PDX in all this would be more direct flights on these long/thin routes using the E175, rather than using turbo props to Seattle to make a transfer first. Alaska does use Bombardier jets for smaller flights already, but the E175 apparently has a wider, longer cabin. Sounds like Eugene is an example of a city that'll see these E175s from Seattle in place of turbo props... Alaska/Horizon will save $ on these routes with shorter flying times.

I'm confident the Q400 will still be used on Portland/Seattle flights and on Seattle/Eugene flights. On short flights, they still use less fuel than a jet engine. On longer flights, speed becomes an issue and the fuel advantage disappears fast. They are not getting rid of the Q400, just right sizing the fleet.

I'm expecting these new planes will be used on flights to secondary cities like Austin, Minneapolis, Kansas City, San Antonio, etc.... It will become a huge win for more nonstop flights but the turboprops will still be the way to go for destinations in the Northwest.

It's too bad that they couldn't have made a killer deal on the new Bombardier CS100s, but I think those planes have about 20 seats too many.

[pdxtraveler]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Alaska does use Bombardier jets for smaller flights already, but the E175 apparently has a wider, longer cabin. Sounds like Eugene is an example of a city that'll see these E175s from Seattle in place of turbo props... Alaska/Horizon will save $ on these routes with shorter flying times.

Actually the regionals Alaska has now are SkyWest, that is part of the point for Horizon, I think they want to take those flights back, they gave up those routes when they got rid of their regionals a few years back. Alaska itself only has B737s.

[downtownpdx]

I read that wrong -- I guess it's San Jose - Eugene that will likely replace the prop with the new E175 jet.

[downtownpdx]

Originally Posted by pdxtraveler

Actually the regionals Alaska has now are SkyWest, that is part of the point for Horizon, I think they want to take those flights back, they gave up those routes when they got rid of their regionals a few years back. Alaska itself only has B737s.

Oh yeah that's right, they want wholly-owned Horizon to operate those routes. All good news for PDX, an expanded local airline base and more direct flights

[PDX2016]

In addition to the possibility of more QX/AS flights out of PDX, I'm also looking forward to seeing what the updated new concourse design looks like in the next 2-3 months and how many additional jetways will be added to CC-E....From the article the final product is going to be much different than the original design and probably even longer in length............

[maccoinnich]

Well, Virgin Atlantic is launching London to Seattle service (a route that Delta and BA already serve, although it's likely Delta will drop their service). I guess that makes London to Portland on Virgin less likely.

[WestCoast]

^^^

I always thought VA to PDX was like a .0001% chance.
Basically, they would have gotten feed from DL and that is it.

Now, granted, LHR isn't much about the connections onward... but for a small city like ours where it's one of a handful of Europe flights... yes, it will carry connections.


--
The assumption on VA doing LHR-SEA is that DL will drop its own metal on that route.

Regardless, I am actually hoping that this give BA a reason to do SEA-PDX as a defensive move.

Instead of letting DL/VA take all the traffic PDX-SEA-LHR, they can pre-empt that with a direct flight.

--
Time will tell. LHR not being a true hub focus hurts the case (and is the reason we'll probably see PDX-CDG first as our next Europe flight...), but still, imagine with enough business contracts, PDX-LHR would work just fine.

[WestCoast]

rumors going around that Delta will announce PDX-LHR this morning for summer 2017.

Basically SEA-LHR goes to VA (DL leaves), so, PDX-LHR starts up with DL.



I'll believe it when I see the press release, but, rumor was announcement Tuesday morning.

[WestCoast]

Delta Announces PDX-LHR!!!!


http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...h-portland-london-service-300276758.html

[Tanaka07]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Delta Announces PDX-LHR!!!!


http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/...h-portland-london-service-300276758.html

WOW very shocking. Never thought I would see DL start nonstop PDX-LHR. Thought it would be BA instead. DL starting nonstop Portland-Paris would make much more sense.

[maccoinnich]

Didn't see that coming. With the news that Virgin are starting Seattle service I thought that killed the chances of Portland-London service. In fact it made it possible.

Downside is that they're starting service in May 2017. Of course I have a trip to the UK planned in April 2017...

[babs]

Originally Posted by Tanaka07

WOW very shocking. Never thought I would see DL start nonstop PDX-LHR. Thought it would be BA instead. DL starting nonstop Portland-Paris would make much more sense.

Hoping for PDX - Beijing next.

[Derek]

That literally came out of nowhere. It's too bad it's only a summer seasonal but it's a great addition.

[Tanaka07]

Originally Posted by babs

Hoping for PDX - Beijing next.

It will likely be PDX- PVG(Shanghai). Shanghai is a skyteam hub that Delta recently stated it will be building up. Very surprised by Delta's move to start PDX-LHR. Their current SEA-LHR is nearly empty most days! Maybe they will do better in PDX because they will be the only player in the PDX-LHR market.

I still expect DL to eventually announce PDX-Paris and PDX-Shanghai.