Portland jetport service to the West is taking off

File photo / Courtesy, Portland International Jetport Delta's daily service to Minneapolis and St. Paul is set to commence on May 28, while American Airlines will start Saturday service to Miami starting on June 5.

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By Staff

Portland International Jetport, the state’s largest airport by passenger volume, will offer passengers a larger choice of flights this summer — especially to western and midwestern destinations.

Both Southwest Airlines and United Airlines will expand service from Portland beginning in June, the jetport said in news releases Wednesday and Thursday.

Southwest will begin making direct flights to Nashville, Tenn., on Saturdays, and will increase the frequency of its seasonal direct service to Chicago’s Midway airport from Saturdays to both days of the weekend. The new flights begin June 7 and will continue to Aug. 10.

United Airlines will expand its direct service to Denver from weekend flights to daily ones. The additional flights are scheduled to run from June 4 to Sept. 7.

Airport Director Paul Bradbury praised both airlines in the news releases, and seemed particularly pleased with the additional flights west.

"We have been focused on adding more connectivity to the west, and United’s expanded commitment to Denver is helping us tremendously in providing nonstop service to a top 10 destination and allowing for easier connections to many more secondary markets on the West Coast," he said.

United began its nonstop seasonal flights to Denver last summer, and Denver-based Frontier Airlines came to the Jetport in July 2018.

Last month, the jetport announced that a low-cost carrier, Sun Country Airlines, will begin direct service between Portland and Minneapolis-St. Paul. The flights will start June 18 and operate on Sundays and Thursdays.

Bradbury noted that flights with about 2,000 seats a week next summer will fly from Portland directly to destinations west of the Mississippi River. In 2017, there were no direct flights to western locations.

Portland International Jetport is served by nine airlines and carried 2.13 million passengers in 2018, the most in its history. According to jetport statistics, it’s on pace to break that record this year. About 500,000 passengers fly through Bangor International Airport each year via four airlines.