Newsroom

The health and safety of travelers and employees is the top priority at Portland International Airport. For the last few months, PDX has worked closely with public health partners to respond to and help slow the spread of COVID-19.

PDX remains open and operational and passenger numbers are rising slowly. The airport has made some changes to help keep travelers’ health safety a priority while keeping PDX a welcoming place for all when travelers choose to fly.

Health and Safety Measures

Here is what to expect at PDX.

Face coverings required. Face coverings are required at PDX. Face coverings must cover your nose and mouth; travelers should bring their own for personal fit and comfort. However, if a traveler doesn’t have a face covering, the airport received 1.03 million from FEMA that will be distributed for free to airport employees, travelers and to the other commercial service and general aviation airports across the state.

Wait outside. The airport is limiting the number of people inside the terminal to minimize congestion. Arriving travelers should be met outside the building.

More cleaning & sanitizing: PDX continues to clean high-touch areas frequently – like the escalator and moving walkway handrails, food court tables, and bathrooms – and is doing so with hospital-grade cleaning products. As well, there are more than 85 hand sanitizer stations located throughout the airport.

Before traveling, travelers can review tips about what they can do to help make their journey safer at www.flypdx.com/travelsafe.

Stats and Facts

Here are the summer travel numbers.

At the onset of the pandemic, travelers heeded stay-home orders and PDX saw its lowest number of travelers in decades. Travel numbers have started climbing slowly. However, passenger numbers will be significantly lower this summer than in 2019.

April 2020 saw a 95% drop in passenger travel compared to the same month the year prior. In fact, there was a day in mid-April where only about 1,600 travelers passed through PDX.

By June 30, PDX was seeing close to 14,000 travelers a day, although this was still 83% fewer passengers than June 2019.

Last summer, PDX welcomed 5.6 million travelers during June, July and August. For summer 2020, PDX expects to see 1.5 million travelers during the same period. 

Specifically in July, PDX expects approximately 500,000 travelers throughout the month, a 75% decline compared to July 2019, when PDX welcomed nearly 2 million travelers.

For additional context, the busiest days of summer travel in 2019 saw more than 71,000 travelers pass through PDX each day, compared to the 2019 daily average of about 51,000.

Return to Travel

Here is what PDX looks like now.

As passenger numbers gradually increase, there are signs that airlines, agencies and businesses are supporting a return to travel. Airlines have added back flights and airport tenants and businesses have been adjusting – and likely will continue to adjust – their operational hours to meet traveler demand.

Some airlines operating at PDX that had suspended flights to domestic destinations have since resumed service to select cities. 

• Hawaiian Airlines began operating a daily flight to Honolulu on July 1.
• JetBlue begins three-times weekly service to Boston and New York today.
• With each month this summer, PDX expects to see its top three airlines – Alaska, Southwest and Delta – continue to make changes/additions to their flight schedules.

As always, travelers should check with their airline prior to heading to PDX for the airline’s most updated travel requirements and flight information.

The USO at PDX has reopened to support local and traveling service members and their families. The Transportation Security Administration has reopened the B/C security checkpoint to help increase physical distancing during the security screening process.

There are now 33 shops and restaurants open and operating at PDX – about 10 more than were open several months ago. A full list of the available concessions can be found at www.flypdx.com/travelsafe.