Horizon Air will resume flying between Portland International Airport and Redmond Airport in November, restoring a route that stopped flying in 2021.

Horizon will fly between PDX and Redmond, about 15 miles north of Bend, from Nov. 29 through April 10.

The airline noted that’s when snow often makes it difficult to navigate the roads between the Willamette Valley and central Oregon.

“This route has been the top ask from both communities and will be highly impactful to the business population that commutes between the two cities,” said Kevin Lemme, general manager of airplane planning and network performance for Horizon’s parent company, Alaska Air.

Horizon said it stopped flying between Portland and Redmond during the pandemic because of “regional capacity constraints.”

Airlines are dealing with shortages in crew and aircraft and the resulting cutbacks in flights has fallen most heavily on smaller airports.

Because the newly restored flight is only seasonal, Portland and Redmond still won’t have a direct connection for most of the year.

But passenger volumes in Redmond have continued to climb anyway as people fly to and from other locales.

Air travel through Redmond is up 17% this year compared to 2019.