Portland International Jetport | PWM

[Portlander]

Funny how they term service to Jacksonville as "breeze thru" with no plane change in Pittsburgh!

 

[Cosakita18]

Those types of "same plane" layovers used to be common but now only Southwest and Breeze still offer them.

It's a good way for them to potentially boost Load Factors for PIT-PWM too

 

[Portlander]

 

[Cosakita18]

Breeze is adding nonstop PWM-RDU (Raleigh-Durham) starting in May 24th.

2x weekly Monday and Friday using the E-190/195. This is their 8th (or 9th depending on if you count "breezeThrough") route from PWM.

They'll be competing head-to-head with Frontier on this route.

 

[NR2Portland]

Breeze is adding nonstop PWM-RDU (Raleigh-Durham) starting in May 24th.

2x weekly Monday and Friday using the E-190/195. This is their 8th (or 9th depending on if you count "breezeThrough") route from PWM.

They'll be competing head-to-head with Frontier on this route.

This is great. I almost guarantee this will also be a Breeze-thru route to New Orleans or Sarasota. Keep an eye out for that announcement in the spring

 

[NR2Portland]

Breeze may need to invest in its own gates at PWM here pretty soon.
In the summer, Monday and Friday look like there will be 5-6 breeze flights arriving into Portland from CHS, PIT, ISP, MCO, ORF, and now RDU. Who knows what else they will add. Their flights seem to keep filling in Portland so I wouldn’t be shocked to see more added for the summer.
Looking at a random Monday, August 5th:
MCO lands at 10:15am
ISP lands at 11:30am
PIT lands at 12:30pm
ORF lands at 1:30pm
CHS lands at 5:15pm
RDU lands at 7pm

I’m predicting an international flight to be announced that stays overnight at the Jetport. Another midwest route for the summer. And two more Breeze thru routes! Breeze will be busy busy!

 

[Cosakita18]

Once Breeze has FAA certification to fly international, I think the most realistic possibility for PWM would be winter-seasonal flights to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Caribbean.

I think Breeze is a couple years off from considering transatlantic flights. Their overall financial situation is a bit rough at the moment (But it's improving) and long-haul, low-cost flights are notoriously difficult to make profitable, Plus they still don't have all the necessary certifications needed for transatlantic flying.

Realistically, Breeze will spend the next couple years building up its domestic and short-haul international network before they hop the pond.

 

[Portlander]

Delta is utilizing 3 daily 76 seat RJ's this summer and fall to DTW which will sadly replace the two mainline aircraft (717) they have been using. I suspect their increase in seats westward to MSP may have something to do with it even though there is a small net gain to Detroit. I really hate losing mainline service out of PWM!

 

[Cosakita18]

Delta is utilizing 3 daily 76 seat RJ's this summer and fall to DTW which will sadly replace the two mainline aircraft (717) they have been using. I suspect their increase in seats westward to MSP may have something to do with it even though there is a small net gain to Detroit. I really hate losing mainline service out of PWM!

There are some advantages to smaller, more frequent flights especially for hub connectivity. There are definitely instances where I'd rather have 5-6 daily Regional jet flights to LGA / PHL / DCA / EWR than have 2-3 mainline flights.

In the past airlines prioritized business travelers who often demanded those types of high-frequency schedules. Leisure travelers have more flexibility and in the post-covid world leisure travelers make up much more of the overall flying market. That's partly why airlines have shifted to fewer flights with larger planes.

 

[PWMFlyer]

A total of 9 routes for Breeze!! WOW. Will B6 finally pull the plug and Breeze has its own gate and bigger counter space? As for the 717, it was going to be retired in 2024. Sad to see the end of that airframe MD-90, DC-9, MD-80 family. At some point, Delta is going more with the CRJ-900s and the E-175s and converting to 1st class cabins. More fuel efficient, and more bang for the seat. Delta is also flying the 737-900s to MSP this summer...

 

[Cosakita18]

I wish Breeze and the Jetport could boot JetBlue out of gate 7. JB is only going to be operating 2 daily flights for the summer. Having their own dedicated gate made sense when they were year-round 4-6x daily to JFK and seasonal to MCO....but it doesn't make sense anymore especially with other airlines jostling for gate space.

 

[Portlander]

Does anyone think we can break the record again in 2024 or has PWM reached is logical passenger peak due to terminal constraints and limited catchment area population growth? Graph credit: Wikipedia

 

[markhb]

I think it's possible; I think there is a lot of traffic still to poach from Logan, and the new gates will help peak capacity.

I’m predicting an international flight to be announced that stays overnight at the Jetport. Another midwest route for the summer. And two more Breeze thru routes! Breeze will be busy busy!

I think the international flight is a stretch (although I would love to see it). Regional destinations like Toronto have not worked out, and it would be hard to clear a mainline-size jet on a regular basis given the lack of a permanent facility. I wish the FIS facility was nearer-term than the 2027 Paul mentioned a page ago.

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

There are definitely instances where I'd rather have 5-6 daily Regional jet flights to LGA / PHL / DCA / EWR than have 2-3 mainline flights.

Ditto. I was supposed to go to Philly in March for a set of meetings that start with dinner the night before and run the next day through midday, but I could not make it work logistically given flight schedules in March. I'd either have to miss much of meetings, take indirect flights to Charlotte, Atlanta, DC or Chicago, or turn it into a three-day affair. Even driving to Manchester or Boston wasn't feasible. Now I'm going to be joining the meetings remotely, which is almost not even worth my time.

 

[mainejeff]

Does everyone just fly to the Southeast or what? Where are the flights or connections to Denver, Vegas and CA?

 

[Portlander]

PWM's non stop destinations to the west are DEN, DFW, MSP, ORD, MDW and DTW with most of them being seasonal May through October. Hopefully someday we'll see service to LAS, SLC or PHX utilizing A220 aircraft, not so sure about California.

 

[markhb]

Ditto. I was supposed to go to Philly in March for a set of meetings that start with dinner the night before and run the next day through midday, but I could not make it work logistically given flight schedules in March. I'd either have to miss much of meetings, take indirect flights to Charlotte, Atlanta, DC or Chicago, or turn it into a three-day affair. Even driving to Manchester or Boston wasn't feasible. Now I'm going to be joining the meetings remotely, which is almost not even worth my time.

The only time I ever had to fly to Philly for work, US Air was still a thing and I was down and back the same day. And as for your meetings, are driving or Amtrak viable options? Or the Concord posh bus to NYC (drops a block or so from Grand Central), cab to Penn Station and then train from there?

 

[Dr. StrangeHat]

The only time I ever had to fly to Philly for work, US Air was still a thing and I was down and back the same day. And as for your meetings, are driving or Amtrak viable options? Or the Concord posh bus to NYC (drops a block or so from Grand Central), cab to Penn Station and then train from there?

No, driving, bus and train aren't viable options. It's the time spent traveling that is the concern. I can't blow three days on these meetings. I need the down-and-back quick option, but current flight schedules for PWM->PHL don't work.

 

[PWMFlyer]

1230pm down day before and come back at 9pm the next day doesn't work? PWM-PHL

 

[nomc]

No, driving, bus and train aren't viable options. It's the time spent traveling that is the concern. I can't blow three days on these meetings. I need the down-and-back quick option, but current flight schedules for PWM->PHL don't work.

+1

Trying to work around the PHL schedule myself right now