Portland International

A Legacy of Private Aviation

Originally, Portland's airport was Swan Island Municipal Airport, completed in 1927 on 256 acres purchased by the Port of Portland. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that the airport would become obsolete, as it could not be expanded or accommodate larger aircraft. Therefore, in 1935 plans were made to relocate the airport to a more suitable site. The land where PDX is presently located was purchased by the Portland City Council in 1936. Originally 700 acres, the council put up $300,000 and asked the Port of Portland to sponsor a $1.3 million Works Progress Administration grant. As it was still the era of the Great Depression, the project provided badly-needed jobs and consistently employed over 1,000 men (and was later described by historian Neil Barker as "Portland's most significant public works improvement during the New Deal era"). There were some difficulties during the construction of the site due to flooding from the Columbia River. The area had to be covered with over 4 million cubic yards of sand to drain it of water (with the help of a series of dikes to control the flooding). By 1941, there were two runways, and the airport was named Portland-Columbia Airport. The U.S. Army Air Forces then used the airport during WWII. At the war's end, there was one terminal and five runways. In 1952, a new runway was constructed, running east-west at 8,800 feet. In 1959, a new terminal building was opened, and another east-west terminal was constructed (making the terminal a midfield terminal). At this point, the original facilities were turned into taxiways, save for Runway 3/21, which was extended for a cross-wind runway. After these improvements, the airport added the official designation of "International." In 1957, PDX was serviced by United Airlines, West Coast Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Western Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Pacific Northern, and Pan Am. In 1959, the first jets arrived, Boeing 707-321s by Pan Am. The first international nonstop flight was Western's 720B to Vancouver in 1967. In 1974, the newest jumbo jets necessitated the extension of the south runway to 11,000 feet, whereas the terminal building was expanded and renovated in 1977. The terminal building had to undergo extensive (further) renovations during the 1980s to meet future needs. As such, the ticketing and baggage were renovated and expanded, while a new concourse (D) was added for the benefit of Alaska Airlines in 1986. In 1992, Concourse E was reconstructed, becoming the first concourse in the airport to feature moving sidewalks. Furthermore, a small shopping mall (the Oregon Marketplace) was added in the former waiting areas behind the ticket counters. In the 1990s, Concourse C was extended, and a food court was added. In 1994, Concourse D was added, while in the late 1990s, a new parking garage, air traffic control tower, and canopy were completed. There were some issues with these additions, as three steelworkers were killed during the construction of the garage when an addition collapsed. At the same time, the canopy, although hailed by architectural critics, obscured views of Mount Hood from the curbside. In 1974, PDX was served by Braniff International Airways, Cascade Airways, Continental Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, Hughes Airwest, Northwest Orient, Pan Am, United Airlines, and Western Air, with Air Oregon joining in 1978 and Air California in 1980. Throughout the 1980s, the dominant carrier at PDX was United. This also included international service, which mostly included destinations in Asia (which was enhanced after the purchase of Pan Am and their Asian routes). By the late 1980s, Delta had added several Asian destinations as well and made Portland PDX their west coast hub. Their hub peaked in 1998, but it was hurt by several factors, including the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 and complaints regarding the treatment of international passengers at PDX's immigration facility. This led Delta to end the last direct flights from PDX to Tokyo and Nagoya in March 2001, which brought about public scrutiny and forced officials to address concerns about the immigration center at PDX. Over the years, there have been various nonstop international flights from PDX, including to Frankfurt with Lufthansa, to Guadalajara and Mexico City by Mexicana, and to Amsterdam and Tokyo/Narita with Northwest. The Northwest flights are operated by Delta Air Lines today (having purchased Northwest), while British Airways launched a nonstop to London Heathrow in June 2022, Air Canada flies nonstop to Pearson-Toronto, while Volaris flies nonstop to Guadalajara, Condor features seasonal service to Frankfurt, and Icelandair flies seasonally to Reykjavik-Keflavik. On September 10, 2001, the present H-shape of the PDX terminal was completed, with the addition of new concourses A, B, and C, as well as the completion of the new light rail line. The concourses were focused on the theme of the Columbia River, and while they were intended originally to be public space, the events of 9/11 changed the plans, and they are only open to ticketed passengers. In August 2005, a concourse connector was opened, a long hallway on the secure side of the airport connecting concourses A, B, and C to D and E (the connector closed permanently in January 2021 to enable terminal expansion). The security checkpoints and immigration facilities were renovated in December 2016. On July 15, 2020, new works were unveiled. This included the extension of Concourse E by 750 feet (and the addition of 6 gates) - the improvements allowed Southwest to relocate to Concourse E (from C), where they were to join United. This maneuver allowed Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, and JetBlue Airways to become the primary users of Concourses B and C. This followed the demolition of Concourse A in November of 2019, which was replaced by Concourse B's expansion, which opened on December 8th, 2021. Further construction of the main terminal commenced in March 2020, a five-year plan to generate more open space in the pre-security area and a 150-foot expansion westward. The expectation is that the terminal will be completed in 2025.