Portland International Airport
From MetroAirWiki
| Portland International
| |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| IATA: PDX - ICAO: KPDX | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type
| Public | ||
| Operator
| Port of Portland | ||
| Serves
| Portland, Oregon | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 30 ft (9 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Website
| http://www.flypdx.com/ | ||
| Parts of this article may come from Wikipedia | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 10R/28L | 11,000 | 3,353 | Asphalt |
| 10L/28R | 8,000 | 2,438 | Asphalt |
| 3/21 | 7,001 | 2,134 | Asphalt |
Contents |
General
Portland International Airport is the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of passenger travel and more than 90% of air cargo. It is located on the south side of the Columbia River, six miles by air and twelve miles by highway northeast of downtown Portland and is connected to the regional light rail system with the MAX Red Line.
PDX has direct connections to major airport hubs throughout the United States, plus direct international flights to Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and Singapore. It is also a hub for flights to smaller cities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California and Nevada. General aviation services are provided at PDX by Flightcraft. The Oregon Air National Guard has a base located on the south side of the property.
PDX is a major hub for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, located on Concourses A, B, and C. PDX also serves as a maintenance facility for Horizon Air.
PDX was also identified as the top airport for business travelers in the United States in the October 2006 and October 2007 issues of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. Research for the article identified the airport's easy access (including light rail service), shopping and free wireless Internet access as factors leading to the selection.
City airport history
Portland's main airport has been in two other incarnations. The first was on Swan Island, now used by the Port of Portland for industrial parks.
The second was the 1940s–1950s configuration on the present site known as the "super airport." The third and present configuration was first known as "The International," but is now known as PDX in all common and most official usage.
Swan Island Airport
In 1925, aviation proponents proposed an airport for Portland on Swan Island, northwest of downtown Portland on the Willamette River. The Port of Portland purchased 256 acres (1.04 km²) and construction began in 1926. Although the airport wasn't completed until 1930, Charles Lindbergh flew in and dedicated the new airfield in 1927.
By 1935, it was becoming apparent to the Port of Portland that the Swan Island Airport was becoming obsolete. The small airfield couldn't easily be expanded, nor could it accommodate the larger aircraft and passenger loads expected to become common to Portland. Plans immediately were conceived to relocate the outdated airfield to a larger site.
Swan Island Airport was officially named Portland Airport until the opening of the new airport.
Portland-Columbia "Super Airport"
The present PDX site was purchased by the Portland City Council in 1936. At the time, it was 700 acres (2.8 km²) 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 and was completed in 1940. The airport was designated Portland-Columbia Airport to distinguish it from then-operating Swan Island Airport.
The "super airport" featured a terminal on the north side of the property, off Marine Drive, and five runways (NE-SW, NW-SE, and an east-west runway forming an asterisk). This configuration was adequate until a new terminal and a longer, 8,800 ft. east-west runway were constructed in 1952.
In 1948, the entire airport grounds were flooded during the Vanport Flood due to its proximity to the Columbia River and very low elevation, forcing scheduled airline services to reroute to nearby Troutdale Airport. The grounds remained covered entirely in water for several months.
International status and expansion
A new terminal opened in 1958, which for the most part serves as the present facility. The new terminal is located to the east of the original runways, and north of the then-new 8,800 ft 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.
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. In 1974, the south runway was extended to 11,000 ft. to service the latest jumbo jets.
By the 1980s, the terminal building began an extensive renovation in order to update PDX to meet future needs. Concourse E was first to be reconstructed, and featured PDX's first moving sidewalks. The Oregon Marketplace, a small shopping mall, was added in the former waiting areas behind the ticket counters.
The early 1990s saw a food court and extension added to Concourse C, and the opening of the new Concourse D. This marked the first concessions inside secured areas, allowing passengers to purchase items without having to be re-screened.
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. Also, the garage addition collapsed while under construction, killing a worker.
The present, rigid H-shape of the PDX terminal 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, however the unfortunate events of September 11, 2001 interceded. The new concourses, designed to be public spaces, were closed to non-passengers.
In the fall of 2005, the elevated walkway connecting the north and south concourses inside the secure area opened.
Gate Assignment
MetroAir currently operates out of Gate E5 at KPDX. (see the airport diagram in the NOTAMS section of the forums for a map)
Flight Planning Resources
- Airport Diagram
- Terminal Procedures - contains SID, STAR and IAP
IFR Routes
Pilots should add their IFR route plans originating from KPDX here as a central repository for their fellow pilots.
| Destination | Route | Suggested Altitude | Charts | Preferred | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KONT | PAWLI Q11 PUSHH PASKE LANDO PMD ZIGGY4 | Range: FL190-410 (odd) | KPDX KONT | 
| N/A
|
| KONT | RIVR6 BTG J189 AVE EHF ZIGGY4 | Range: FL190-410 (odd) | KPDX KONT |
| N/A
|
| KSEA | RIVR6 BTG OLM5 | Range: FL190-410 (odd) | KPDX KSEA |
| N/A |
Available Sceneries
| FS version | pay-/freeware | developer | available updates |
|---|---|---|---|
| FS9 | payware | Flight Scenery - FlightZone 02: Portland - september 2006 | none |
| FS9 | freeware | AVSIM - Sidney Schwartz - Portland KPDX - september 2007 | none |
| FS9 | freeware | AVSIM - sunwestdesigns - Portland International - august 2005 | fix - august 2005 |
| FS9 | freeware | kpdx_v1.zip John B. Loney, Jr. - KPDX - march 2004 | none |
| FSX | freeware | portkpdx.zip Sidney Schwartz - Portland Airport - may 2007 | none |
