Portland International Airport
|
|
Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title Template:Airport image Template:Airport infobox Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Runway Template:Runway Template:Airport end frame
For the airport of Portland, Maine, see Portland International Jetport
Portland International Airport (IATA airport code: PDX, ICAO airport code: KPDX) is the largest airport in Oregon. PDX is also an affectionate local nickname for Portland, Oregon, but for the rest of this entry, PDX refers only to the airport.
Located in Portland's NE quadrant, close to the Columbia River, and 20 minutes by car from Downtown, PDX is connected to the downtown business and arts districts by the light rail Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) Red Line.
PDX has direct connections to major airport hubs throughout the United States, plus direct international flights to Canada, Mexico, Japan and Germany. It is also a hub for smaller cities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California and Nevada. General aviation services are provided at PDX by Flightcraft (http://www.flightcraft.com/). The Oregon Air National Guard has a base located on the south side of the property.
Statistics:
- 1 million passengers per month
- 21,000 short tons (19,000 metric tonnes) of air freight per month
- 18,000 commercial flight operations per month
- Approximately the 30th largest airport in the United States
| Contents |
The terminal
PDX consists of one terminal building shaped roughly like an "H" that is divided into five concourses. Concourses A, B, and C are on the opposite side of the terminal from concourses D and E; they are connected beyond security checkpoints by a shuttle bus. Inside PDX, there are postal services, free WiFi wireless internet access, a children's playroom, and several retail stores and restaurants, including Made in Oregon and Sharper Image.
Airlines and their destinations
Concourse A
- Horizon Air (Billings, Boise, Burbank, Denver, Eugene, Fresno, Klamath Falls, Medford, North Bend, Oakland, Ontario, Pasco, Pendleton, Redding, Redmond/Bend, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San José, Seattle/Tacoma, Spokane, and Vancouver)
- Big Sky Airlines (Moses Lake)
Concourse B
- Alaska Airlines (Anchorage, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Oakland, Orange County (Santa Ana), Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San José, and Seattle/Tacoma)
Concourse C
- Alaska Airlines (See above)
- American Airlines (Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth)
- Horizon Air (See above)
- Frontier Airlines (Denver)
- Southwest Airlines (Albuquerque, Boise, Chicago/Midway, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Jose, and Spokane)
Concourse D
- America West Airlines (Las Vegas and Phoenix)
- ASA dba Delta Connection (Salt Lake City)
- Continental Airlines (Houston/Intercontinental and Newark)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (Covington, KY), and Salt Lake City)
- Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu and Kahului)
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
- Mexicana Airlines (Guadalajara)
- Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Honolulu, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Tokyo/Narita)
- SkyWest dba Delta Connection (Salt Lake City)
Concourse E
- Air Canada Jazz (Vancouver)
- JetBlue Airways (New York/Kennedy)
- United Airlines (Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington/Dulles)
- SkyWest dba United Express (Eugene, Medford, Redmond/Bend, and Seattle/Tacoma)
Cargo carriers
- Air China
- Airborne Express
- Burlington Air Express
- DHL Worldwide Express
- Evergreen Airlines
- Federal Express
- Kitty Hawk Cargo
- Korean Air
- United Parcel Service
Airport history (1925-present)
Today's Portland International Airport has had two previous incarnations. The first was the airport's original site on Swan Island. The second was the 1940's-1950's configuration on the present site known as the "super airport". The third and present configuration was first known as "The International", but is now known as PDX in all common and most official usage.
Swan Island Airport
In 1925, aviation proponents proposed an airport for Portland on Swan Island, an island northwest of downtown Portland on the Willamette River. The Port of Portland purchased 256 acres (1.04 km²) and construction began in 1926. Although the airport wouldn't be completed until 1930, Charles Lindbergh flew in and dedicated the new airfield in 1927.
By 1935, it was becoming apparent to the Port of Portland that the Swan Island Airport was becoming obsolete. The small airfield couldn't easily be expanded, nor could it accommodate the larger aircraft and passenger loads expected to become common to Portland. Plans immediately were conceived to relocate the outdated airfield to a larger site.
Swan Island Airport was officially named Portland Airport until the opening of the new airport.
Portland-Columbia "Super Airport" (Present site)
The present PDX site was purchased by the Portland City Council in 1936. At the time, it was 700 acres (2.8 km²) bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the Columbia Slough in the south. The city council issued US$300,00 and asked the Port of Portland to sponsor a US$1.3 million Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant to develop the site into a "super airport". The project provided badly needed Great Depression-era jobs and was completed in 1940. The airport was designated Portland-Columbia Airport to distinguish it from then-operating Swan Island Airport.
The "super airport" featured a terminal on the north side of the property, off Marine Drive, and five runways (NE-SW, NW-SW, and an east-west runway forming an "X" with a line through it). This configuration was adequate until a new terminal and a longer, 8,800 ft. east-west runway were constructed in 1952.
In 1948, the entire airport grounds were flooded during the Vanport Flood, forcing scheduled airline services to reroute to nearby Troutdale Airport. The grounds remained covered entirely in water for several months.
International status and expansion
A new terminal opened in 1958, which for the most part serves as the present facility. The new terminal is located to the east of the original runways, and north of the then-new 8,800 ft runway. Construction of a second east-west runway to the north made this a midfield terminal. At this point, all but the NE-SW (3/21) runway in the original "X" were abandoned and turned into taxiways. 3/21 was extended for use as a cross-wind runway. "International" was added to the airport's official designation after the 1950's-era improvements.
Plans made in 1968 to add a third runway by means of filling in parts of the Columbia River were met with vocal public opposition and scrapped. In 1974, the south runway was extended to 11,000 ft. to service the latest jumbo jets.
By the 1980's, the terminal building began an extensive renovation in order to update PDX to meet future needs. Concourse E was first to be re-constructed, and featured PDX's first moving sidewalks. The Oregon Marketplace, a small shopping mall, was added in the former waiting areas behind the ticket counters.
The early 1990's saw a food court and extension added to Concourse C, and the opening of the new Concourse D. This marked the first (and farsighted in some passenger's opinions post 9/11) concessions inside secured areas.
An expanded parking garage, new control tower, and canopy over the curbside were finished in the late 1990's. Although hailed by architectural critics, the canopy received bad reviews from the public as it blocked views of Mt. Hood from the curbside.
The present, rigid H-shape of the PDX terminal was completed on September 10, 2001 when the new A, B, and C concourses were finished. Probably the most stunning portion of PDX's interior, the new concourses reflect a Northwest theme, focusing heavily on the nearby Columbia river. The MAX red line extension was also completed and opened on the same day. A huge celebration was to be held the following weekend, however the unfortunate events of 9/11 interceded. The new concourses, designed to be public spaces, were closed to non-passengers.
Recent history
At one time, Delta Air Lines had extensive Asia operations in Portland. However, when the Asian stock market plunged, business slowed. This slowing, only increased by Asian travel agents warning their clients not to enter the US through PDX due to complaints about treatment at the US Immigration facility in Portland, caused Delta to eventually pull their last direct flight from PDX to Tokyo's Narita International Airport (NRT) in March 2001. This change brought local media scrutiny, which, when combined with the resulting Congressional pressure, caused those in charge of the immigration facility to work to fix the problems. Meanwhile, local travel businesses had begun recruiting other carriers. Lufthansa started direct flights to Frankfurt, Germany on March 31, 2003, and Northwest Airlines introduced direct flights to Tokyo (Narita Airport) on June 10, 2004. Mexicana Airlines also introduced service to Guadalajara, Mexico, continuing on to Mexico City. Portland also has four daily non-stop flights to Vancouver, Canada.
Future plans
Although some plans have been studied to either replace or relieve PDX traffic, planners continue to prefer expansion. Salem's McNary Field (SLE) and the Port of Portland's Hillsboro Airport (HIO) in Washington County have been floated as future relievers.
As part of the Port of Portland's PDX 2020 Master Plan, a third east-west runway is again under consideration. Under the current plans, it would be located to the south of the current facilities, requiring the Oregon Air National Guard and cargo operations to relocate elsewhere on PDX property. Plans also include a satellite terminal linked to the main terminal by an automated people-mover system and/or possibly the MAX light rail system.
External links
- Portland International Airport Homepage (http://www.portlandairportpdx.com/)
- PDX monthly aviation statistics (http://www.portlandairportpdx.com/web_pop/AVISTAST.ASP)
- PDX Master Plan (http://www.flypdx.com/PDX_MP_Home.aspx)
- Airport history by Portland State University Students (http://www.ccrh.org/comm/slough/airport1.htm)
- Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.587683,-122.595835&spn=0.036821,0.056477&t=k&hl=en)ja:ポートランド国際空港