Portland International Jetport | PWM

[Portlander]

 

[NR2Portland]

I apologize for the late report… but could we discuss the reasons why JetBlue expanded so heavily into Manchester NH and added 1/3 of the service to Portland Maine? I’m at a loss from a business decision perspective. JetBlue has to be kicking themselves for this one.
I know it’s not the best way to measure route success but I looked at the seating maps from Manchester to MCO and FLL then the seat map of PWM to MCO… it’s not even close to as full in Manchester compared to Portland.
Here are the two flights departing Manchester tomorrow (3/10) during many colleges spring breaks:

Here is the one flight departing PWM (3/10):

This also seems like a less full flight than usual for this PWM-MCO route which has impressed numbers wise so far.

Some things I’ll never understand, but I’ve never heard someone say “I can’t wait to go to Manchester next week/month/year…” I’ve heard thousands express how they look forward to their trips to Portland. I know it’s not all about destination but I’ll ask you all, who are more intelligent than I; What is JetBlues reasoning for giving more routes to Manchester over Portland? More gate space due to fewer flights? Cheap gate fees? Less competition? It’s mind boggling to me. Please fill me in!

 

[PWMFlyer]

I keep scratching my head on that one also. JetBlue -FLL and MCO year-round to MHT? PWM still to this day has not had anyone offer flights to the East side of Florida. FLL, MIA, PBI...Jetblue must have been given a cash incentive at the airport after Spirit pulled the plug. Plus, with Kitchens gone at the helm, let's see what happens next.

 

[Portlander]

Your question would be in Cosakita's area of knowledge but I would add that Manchester has mainline service via the legacy airlines to only ONE destination and that is Charlotte with zero Delta and United options. Even Southwest service which has been MHT's bread and butter for decades has diminished over the past few years. As far as JetBlue, the lack of year round service at PWM is puzzling but the sudden interest by Avelo in MHT is even more puzzling to me but they are taking advantage of an underutilized airport that had 4.3M enplanements 20 years ago. If I were the director at MHT, I would be putting maximum effort into securing international flights by taking advantage of it's 9250' runway, FIS facility and it's availability of unused gates on the domestic side. As for marketing, I would change the name to New Hampshire International which I feel would identify the airport better than Manchester-Boston Regional.

 

[Cosakita18]

I apologize for the late report… but could we discuss the reasons why JetBlue expanded so heavily into Manchester NH and added 1/3 of the service to Portland Maine? I’m at a loss from a business decision perspective. JetBlue has to be kicking themselves for this one.

For JetBlue, MHT is basically Logan overflow. They're very constrained at BOS and shifting some leisure traffic capacity to MHT frees up space at BOS for more high-yielding routes. They're taking the same approach at MHT as they do at PVD: Focusing almost entirely on north-south leisure traffic.

In terms of frequency and levels of service...MHT does have a larger population in its catchment area, and it does have a higher median household income ($104,000 for MHT vs $92,000 for the Portland MSA) which does factor in to how much service can be supported.


That being said...PWM can absolutely support more lift to MCO, RSW, FLL ect. Like most airlines JetBlue is facing fleet constraints at the moment which limits how much they can expand. They're phasing out their E-190s and older A320s and new A220's are being delivered a bit slower than expected.
JetBlue is also in the midst of a network readjustment as they re-focus back on the east coast / Caribbean. I would expect more frequency and capacity to be added in the future because as @NR2Portland pointed out, JetBlue's re-entry into the MCO market has been successful.

 

[NR2Portland]

My last seat map for a while, I promise! I’ll leave it up to your own research from here on out.

MCO-PWM:

MCO-MHT:


Both for tomorrow (3/11)

 

[Portlander]

I’ll leave it up to your own research from here on out.

Myself and others appreciate your research and it is the collaborative efforts by many on the Portland threads that helps maintain its popularity on archBOSTON when compared to the limited interest generated from some of the other equally impressive New England cities.

 

[PWMFlyer]

it just shows there is a big loyal JetBlue following in this area. I personally much rather fly B6 to MCO to the brand-new terminal vs the old terminal and the driverless tram. Has anyone heard of the loads for PQI-BOS? just curious... on another note, I am surprised B6 does not have 1 flight that stops at PWM from PQI, then goes to BOS. This would give our friends to the north an opportunity to use the hospitals, etc as well as touristy things or switch to a different airline... a mini hub.

 

[Cosakita18]

it just shows there is a big loyal JetBlue following in this area. I personally much rather fly B6 to MCO to the brand-new terminal vs the old terminal and the driverless tram. Has anyone heard of the loads for PQI-BOS? just curious... on another note, I am surprised B6 does not have 1 flight that stops at PWM from PQI, then goes to BOS. This would give our friends to the north an opportunity to use the hospitals, etc as well as touristy things or switch to a different airline... a mini hub.

Seems like average loads are 45-60%. Load Factor doesn't matter as much for PQI given that B6 gets a generous EAS subsidy.

Like I said the other day about MHT, PQI is basically overflow parking for B6. They overnight an E-190 / A220 at PQI and get it back to BOS by ~7:30 am for a quick turn and a prime-time 8:30-9 am departure to business-heavy destinations.

You can see JetBlue's strategy with today's (3/12) flight. An E-190 (N329JB) left PQI at 5:45 AM. Got to BOS at 7:40, turned and left for LGA at 8:40 am

It's a win-win-win for B6. They get to free up overnight space at BOS, bring in feeder traffic from PQI for their mid-morning departure bank, AND get federal money to do it.

 

[Portlander]

I am surprised B6 does not have 1 flight that stops at PWM from PQI, then goes to BOS. This would give our friends to the north an opportunity to use the hospitals, etc as well as touristy things or switch to a different airline... a mini hub.

Great idea and it probably would fill the remaining seats and add another option over the train or bus ride to Boston.

 

[markhb]

Great idea and it probably would fill the remaining seats and add another option over the train or bus ride to Boston.

I wonder if anyone (except maybe Elite Airways ) has done any market research about the viability of scheduled flights PQI-PWM, even if it's a puddle jumper with no EAS money. I had cause last year to find out that the distance Mars Hill-Bangor (not even Portland, and not quite as far as Presque Isle) is roughly the same as Portland - the Worcester suburbs.

(Looking quickly, the FAA probably wouldn't fund EAS into Portland anyway, since we're a Small hub and the intent is to connect the smaller airports to Large and Medium hubs.)

 

[Portlander]

I think that the flight would need to depart PQI at 5:15 to help compensate for the quick turn in Portland in order to maintain the early morning sweet spot in Boston, but definitely workable. Have been to Presque Isle a few times and the region feels like you're in a different country with the distance to Portland being exactly the same as Portland to White Plains, NY which is incredible when you look at a map. Bangor must be to Presque Isle what Portland is to Bangor and Boston is to Portland and New York is to Boston!

 

[PWMFlyer]

just to show the load for April Vacation from PQI to BOS

 

[PWMFlyer]

is this going to be a new destination/Route? I was looking at flights and this was on the drop down list.

 

[Portlander]

Nothing yet but it would sure be nice if it would happen in the near future! Distance to Provo Municipal Airport is 2120 miles which is 373 miles further west than DEN.

 

[markhb]

In case anyone from Breeze happens along here, I am not spilling any secrets in pointing out that Wex has operations in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. Plus, of course, the corporate HQ in Portland.

 

[Cosakita18]

Breeze adds PVO.

DL responds to MX by adding SLC

AA responds to MX and DL by adding PHX

UA responds to MX, DL and AA by adding SFO

.....A guy can dream...

 

[PWMFlyer]

February P2 FY25 Passenger numbers are out. It was not a record-breaking month.

FEB	Total Passengers Jan-Feb
2025​	243,706.00
2024​	232,511.00
2023​	203,857.00
2022​	188,317.00
2021​	83,343.00
2019​	252,381.00
2018​	220,313.00

Total passengers, 2025 did not beat 2019 as the overall best by 8,675 passengers.

	FEB	2024​	2023​	2022​	2021​	2019​	2018​
2025​	120,736.00	(8,977.00)	15,606.00	18,120.00	76,930.00	(7,696.00)	8,763.00
2024​	129,713.00
2023​	105,130.00
2022​	102,616.00
2021​	43,806.00
2019​	128,432.00
2018​	111,973.00

This shows that 2024 still has the record for Feb. Feb 2025 shows lower numbers compared to 2024 and 2019.
February did see weather related delays and cancellations throughout the US.
Overall, 2025 is off to a good start.

 

[MHT_Spotter]

is this going to be a new destination/Route? I was looking at flights and this was on the drop down list.
View attachment 60947

Both MHT and PSM have PVU listed too. They all stop in MCO so I’m guessing MCO is starting to become a connection base for them.

 

[Cosakita18]

Note that this isn't a "breeze-thru" it's a regular layover with a change of plane. PWM to PVU via MCO seems like a fairly inconvenient routing, but it's interesting that Breeze is doing conventional layovers now. Opens up a lot of new possibilities for routes.