Portland airline passengers climb back above 1M

Published 1:40 pm Monday, July 26, 2021

The number of people flying through Portland International Airport topped 1 million in each of the past two months, climbing 13% in June as travelers hop back aboard airplanes — eager to shake off their pandemic isolation.

Nearly 1.2 million people flew through PDX last month, by far the highest number since the pandemic began. The airport had just 77,000 passengers in April 2020.

Airlines continue adding flights. Icelandair is again flying from Portland to Reykjavik, with continuing service to Europe. Delta Air Lines is again booking nonstop flights to Amsterdam, beginning in October. And airlines have added many more domestic flights.

Still, passenger volumes aren’t yet near pre-pandemic levels. June’s passenger count was down by 28% from 2019’s average of nearly 1.7 million monthly passengers.

With the delta variant surging, and COVID-19 cases rising in Oregon and across the country, the coronavirus might yet put a damper on flying.

Travel to Canada remains limited, with an Air Canada flight to Vancouver but no service to other cities.

Delta has delayed a new route to Seoul, South Korea, from September until November. And Condor Airlines, which had planned to start flying between Portland and Germany in the spring now says it won’t be back until 2022.

Kama Simonds is spokeswoman for the Port of Portland, which runs PDX. She said the airport is closely monitoring what happens to business travel as people return to offices around the country, and what airlines offer as the holidays approach.

The travel industry is watching to see if airlines continue adding destinations for the fall, typically a slower travel season, and how the ongoing pandemic impacts travel plans. Right now, Simonds said, there aren’t any clear answers.

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