Construction and early operations

The Portland City Council purchased the present PDX site in 1936. It was 700 acres (280 ha) bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the Columbia Slough in the south. The city council issued US$300,000 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.^[9] Construction of the airport steadily employed over 1,000 men, and was described by historian Neil Barker as "Portland's most significant public works improvement during the New Deal era".^[10] The WPA and Port of Portland faced difficulties in preparing the site for construction because the low-lying area was frequently covered by flood waters from the Columbia River. Workers covered the area with over 4 million cubic yards (3,100,000 m³) of sand to help drain it of water, and constructed a series of dikes to control flooding. Two runways capable of serving the modern aircraft of the time were operational by 1941.^[10] The airport was designated "Portland–Columbia Airport" to distinguish it from then-operating Swan Island Airport. During World War II, the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces.

The "super airport" had a terminal on the north side, off Marine Drive, and five runways (NE-SW, NW-SE, and an E-W runway forming an asterisk). This configuration was adequate until a new terminal and a longer, 8,800-foot (2,700 m) east–west runway were constructed in 1952. View airport diagrams: 1955 and 1965

In 1948 the entire airport grounds were flooded during the Vanport Flood, forcing scheduled airline services to reroute to nearby Troutdale Airport. The grounds were under water for several months.^{[citation needed]}

New terminal (1950s)

Portland's first jets were Pan Am 707-321s about October 1959.^{[citation needed]} A new terminal opened in 1959, which for the most part serves as the present facility.^[11] The new terminal is located to the east of the original runways, and north of the then-new 8,800 ft (2,700 m) 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 1950s-era improvements.

The first international nonstop was Western's 720B to Vancouver in 1967.^{[citation needed]} 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. The airport switched from screening passengers at individual gates to screening all visitors at concourse entrances in 1973 as new FAA regulations went into effect.^[12] By 1974, the airport was served by Braniff, Cascade, Continental, Eastern, Hughes Airwest, Northwest Orient, Pan Am, United and Western, and the Seattle route was served by seven airlines with aircraft as large as Boeing 747s.^[13] In 1974, the south runway was extended to 11,000 feet (3,400 m) to service the newest jumbo jets. The terminal building was renovated and expanded in 1977.^[11]

United was the dominant carrier at PDX during the regulated era and through the 1980s.^[14] Air Oregon started short-haul service from Portland following deregulation in 1978, and by 1979 had routes to seven other cities in Oregon.^[15] In April 1983, United Airlines began a flight from Chicago to Tokyo's Narita Airport that stopped in Seattle–Tacoma six days a week and in Portland once a week. The company operated the service with Boeing 747s.^[16][17] Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines wanted to add Tokyo to its network, but it lacked aircraft that could fly there nonstop from its Atlanta base. Consequently, the company established a "Pacific gateway" in Portland, a small hub for routes to Asia.^[18][19][20] Delta began service from Portland to Tokyo in March 1987.^[18][21]

By the 1980s, the terminal building began an extensive renovation in order to update PDX to meet future needs. The ticketing and baggage claim areas were renovated and expanded, and a new Concourse D for Alaska Airlines was added in 1986.^[22] Concourse E was first to be reconstructed in 1992, and featured PDX's first moving sidewalks.^[11] The Oregon Marketplace, a small shopping mall, was added in the former waiting areas behind the ticket counters.^{[citation needed]} The early 1990s saw a food court and extension added to Concourse C, and the opening of the new Concourse D in 1994.^[11] This marked the first concessions inside secured areas, allowing passengers to purchase items without having to be re-screened.^{[citation needed]} An expanded parking garage, new control tower, and canopy over the curbside were finished in the late 1990s. Although hailed by architectural critics, the canopy blocked views of Mount Hood from the curbside. On July 31, 1997, during construction, the garage addition collapsed due to inadequate bolts holding girders together and inadequate securing of structural members, killing three steelworkers.^[23]

Delta added domestic flights to Portland to feed the Asia routes.^[24] In 1995, the carrier offered nonstop service to Tokyo, Seoul, Nagoya, and Taipei, with the Taipei flight continuing on to Bangkok.^[25] It also flew to eight domestic cities, such as Atlanta, New York, and San Francisco.^[26] However, Delta faced obstacles to the success of its operation in Portland. These included the 1997 Asian financial crisis and complaints about the treatment of Asian passengers at the immigration facility in Portland, which led to the nickname "Deportland."^[20][27] Moreover, airlines were introducing more flights from the United States to Asia, allowing travelers to bypass the Portland hub.^[27] Delta reduced the number of Asian destinations to two, Tokyo and Nagoya. It finally closed the hub in March 2001 due to financial losses. The move left the airport without transpacific air service.^[19][28][29]

The present H-shape of the PDX terminal, designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership,^[30] was completed on September 10, 2001, when the new A, B and C concourses, as well as the light rail line, 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. A huge celebration was to be held the following weekend, but the September 11 attacks interceded. The new concourses, designed to be public spaces, were closed to non-passengers.

Lufthansa started direct flights to Frankfurt in March 2003. The route was operated by Airbus A340s.^[31][32] In June 2004, Northwest Airlines introduced nonstop service to its hub at Tokyo-Narita aboard a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. In order to funnel passengers from other American cities onto the flight, Northwest made use of its partnerships with four other carriers instead of adding its own domestic routes to Portland. This strategy was less costly than Delta's.^[33][34]

In August 2005, the concourse connector was opened.^[35] This is a long hallway on the secure side of the airport that connects the A, B and C concourses to the D and E concourses on the other side of the airport. If there is a long line at the checkpoint at one end of the airport, passengers may use the other checkpoint and walk through the connector to their desired concourse.^[36] The connector closed permanently on January 5, 2021, to make room for terminal expansion.^[37]

The airport's carpet, installed in 1987, was designed to stylize the criss-crossing north and south runways. Beginning in 2014, a new design replaced the original pattern. In response, many residents created products to celebrate the carpet as a local icon.^[38][39]

In December 2016, The Port of Portland renovated the security checkpoints and immigration facilities as part of its PDXNext project. This included the relocation, and wider of the exit lanes by the security checkpoints and upgraded security on both sides of the terminal.^[40]

Terminal expansion (2020s)

In the latter half of 2016, the Port of Portland and several airlines at PDX approved a project intended to balance the use of the terminal and concourses at Portland International Airport. The subsequent project extended Concourse E by 750 feet (230 m) and added 6 new gates to the facility. After the project, Southwest Airlines relocated its operations from Concourse C to the newly expanded Concourse E, alongside United Airlines. With the relocation of Southwest Airlines to Concourse E, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways became the primary users of Concourses B and C. Construction on this project began in the spring of 2017 and opened to passengers on July 15, 2020.^[41][42][43]

Concourse A was demolished in November 2019 due to the age and space of the structure and was replaced by an expanded Concourse B. The extension featured 4 jet bridges, 6 ground loading zones, and improved concession stands. All Horizon operations that operated out of Concourse A was temporarily moved to Concourse C until the expanded Concourse B was completed. The new concourse opened on December 8, 2021.^[44][42][45]

In March 2020, the main terminal began a 5-year expansion process to generate more open space in the pre-security area and an expansion of 150 feet toward the west. The Concourse Connector was closed in January 2021 and the Clocktower Plaza closed 3 months later to make room for the expansion. During construction, the remains of the concourse connector will be reused for passengers to bypass the construction zone to get to concourses C and D. Construction of the new main terminal was expected to be complete by May 2024.^[46][47] One month before it's scheduled opening, however, the opening date for the new terminal was delayed to August 2024 due to construction incidents on site.^[48]

Passenger

Cargo

Top destinations

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Busiest domestic routes from PDX (January 2023 – December 2023)^[95]

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Denver, Colorado	629,000	Alaska, Frontier, Southwest, United
2	Seattle/Tacoma, Washington	626,000	Alaska, Delta
3	Las Vegas, Nevada	557,000	Alaska, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit
4	Los Angeles, California	495,000	Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest
5	Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona	466,000	Alaska, American, Frontier, Southwest
6	San Francisco, California	408,000	Alaska, United
7	Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas	344,000	Alaska, American
8	Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois	299,000	Alaska, American, United
9	Salt Lake City, Utah	283,000	Alaska, Delta
10	San Jose, California	271,000	Alaska, Southwest

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More information Rank, City ...

Busiest international routes from PDX (October 2022 – September 2023)^[96]

Rank	City	Passengers	Carriers
1	Amsterdam, Netherlands	151,796	Delta
2	Vancouver, Canada	137,636	Air Canada, Alaska
3	Guadalajara, Mexico	116,585	Volaris
4	London–Heathrow, United Kingdom	106,294	British Airways
5	Calgary, Canada	53,249	WestJet
6	Reykjavík–Keflavík, Iceland	46,508	Icelandair
7	Puerto Vallarta, Mexico	34,384	Alaska
8	San José del Cabo, Mexico	30,866	Alaska
9	Frankfurt, Germany	26,404	Condor
10	Toronto–Pearson, Canada	17,537	Air Canada Rouge

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Airline market share

Annual traffic

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Annual passenger traffic at PDX airport. See Wikidata query.