When business recruiter Mike Bomar talks with clients, questions “often come up” about Portland International Airport and its services.
“People want to know how quickly they can get to the airport … they want to know about nonstop service to key international markets,” said Bomar, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, the lead organization for business recruitment to Clark County.
“PDX is a huge advantage for us on the north side of the river because of its location and connections,” he said.
Bomar and other economic development officials in Clark County and the region tout the airport as a key element of their recruiting effort thanks to the 70 nonstop flights out of PDX to domestic and international markets and its reputation for top quality service.
“The airport is huge in terms of our ability to recruit businesses,” Chad Eiken, director of community development for the city of Vancouver, said. “We emphasize how easy it is to get to the airport, how efficient operations are there.”
It helps that Portland International Airport for the fifth year in a row recently was named Best Airport of the Year by Travel-Leisure magazine.
Now, thanks to an improving global economy and the addition of new nonstop flights and passenger amenities, PDX expects to set another passenger traffic record this year with more than 19 million travelers moving through its facilities. The growth is expected to continue.
Airport passenger traffic has been increasing at an annual rate of more than 5 percent since recovery from the Great Recession, Kama Simonds, a PDX spokesperson said.
“In the past five years, annual passenger traffic is up an overall 28 percent,” Simonds said. “For example, August could be the single busiest passenger month ever at PDX with 2 million people passing through the terminal.”
That is why PDX planners are implementing PDXNext, a list of 20 capital projects to upgrade and expand airport services over the next several years. Some items on the list have been completed with others under way.
A critical piece of the longer-term strategic plan is a recently announced upgrade, remodel and expansion of the main terminal. At a cost of $1.3 billion, the five-year project will include seismic upgrades, installation of more efficient and safe mechanical and plumbing systems and added space for security operations. The work will dig into the core of the terminal, some of it dating from the 1950s, Simonds said.
If approved this fall by airlines serving PDX who will pay for the project, work would start in 2020 and continue through 2025.
Meanwhile, construction work has begun on a new “quick turnaround” rental car facility that ultimately will free-up 1,200 parking spaces for public use. Work is also under way to add six new gates to the north terminal/Concourse E that will become home to all operations of Southwest Airlines, which has the second largest passenger market share at PDX.
Among Vancouver-based subcontractors working on the $215 million project are JH Kelly, Mill Plain Electric, JRT Mechanical, Drakes Striping and Faithful Fence, PDX officials said.
According to a survey, of the 16,000 people working at the airport, 19 percent live in Clark County and Southwest Washington. That total does not include the construction jobs.
Janet LeBar, president and CEO of Greater Portland Inc., said that Portland International Airport is an important reason that the Portland-Vancouver region “punches above its weight” when it comes to economic development and recruitment.
“From our perspective, PDX is a big deal when we talk to corporate decision-makers who make investment decisions in our region,” LeBar said. “Direct flights out of PDX both to Asia and to Europe are a huge selling point.”
On the north side of the Columbia River, those corporate players include Hewlett-Packard, SEH America and Columbia Machine Inc., LeBar said.
Delta Airline’s decision this spring to begin flying nonstop between London and PDX is a “huge gain,” she said. “As well, Cathay Pacific’s new direct cargo flights to Hong Kong is a plus.”
Alaska Airlines and Delta now both fly nonstop to Atlanta. Recently Alaska joined Jet Blue, United and Delta in flying nonstop to New York City and has implemented a nonstop to Orlando.
Bomar said he welcomes the long-range terminal expansion plans at PDX and is hopeful that the airport will continue to add flights to key markets in both Asia and Europe.
“As a member of the PDX international advisory committee, we think the airport is doing a great job,” he said. “If there’s one hope it would be that PDX strengthens its existing services (more flights) to international markets.”
