Portland International Jetport | PWM

Concord coach owners have no intention to go directly to the jetport. They have a contract with Massport and their intention is to have you fly out of Boston. The jetport was looking at a bus service several years ago but never materialized due to concord monopolizing the bus market. I belive they complained because a competitor would take passengers away from logan and concord
 

Portland Jetport hopes to add more international flights

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This article is a little old (3 months) but I never saw it discussed in this thread and thought I would get a discussion going about the possibility of international routes.
Frontier Airlines has expanded at the Jetport rapidly after the peak of COVID. Routes to Cancun, San Juan, or Santo Domingo would be attractive but it’s tough to know it’s true demand. Frontier has expanded rapidly in those southern airports as well.
European routes would also be attractive due to the large Irish population in the Northeast. Aer Lingus or Ryan Air to Dublin would be the most likely possibility for the Jetport. The narrow body aircraft has come a far way and the Jetport would really benefit from this. Aer Lingus flies to Bradley International (Hartford area) which is the most similar to Portland in size in the Northeast.
Other ideas on where the Jetport would be looking to add routes?
 
I personally think the most likely international additions would be Toronto and/or Montreal. Air Canada has flown PWM-YYZ in the past (albeit with tiny Beech-1900 prop planes) so there's definitely precedent. Lots of seasonal demand for visitors and an increasing amount of business traffic. TD Bank and SunLife both have corporate connections between Portland and Toronto which could help sustain the route in the slower winter months.
 
Until the Federal Inspection Station (FIS) is built PWM's international service will be limited to occasional charter flights which are currently handled by customs agents that are located downtown and oversee port operations. We have had service previously to Halifax, Montreal and Toronto on smaller prop driven aircraft with limited success. A few years ago there were rumors that WOW Air was considering service between Portland and Iceland but that never gained traction due to the pandemic. Hopefully PWM will gain some overseas destinations in the future with the possibility of a Canadian, Caribbean or European route. Our runway length (7200') adds distance limitations to how far flights can travel due to fuel, cargo and passenger weight issues which is why I think that Manchester or even Portsmouth may get an opportunity sooner. As far as range, on August of 2019, a fully loaded Delta 757 flew from Portland to Edinburgh, Scotland (EDI) on a 6 hour charter flight covering 2980 miles with no issues. BDL is in a different league than PWM when it comes to size (3X larger) and its ability to draw from most of Connecticut along with the greater Springfield area for passengers.
 
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Runway length really isn't a big limiting factor at PWM, at least not in a way that it would limit -realistic- route opportunities. For comparison, Runway 5/27 at BOS is 7,100 ft long (Compared to 7,200 Ft for 11/29 at PWM) and that runway regularly handles transatlantic widebody arrivals and departures.

FedEx has routinely been bringing their widebody A300 planes in and out of Runway 18/36 throughout the closure of the main runway for resurfacing. 18/36 is just 6,100 ft. long.

My biggest wish for PWM is more consistent and year-round western connections. I flew United's PWM-DEN twice round-trip last summer, and every flight was completely packed. I think expanding PWM-DEN/MSP/DFW to year-round routes would make the jetport a lot more attractive to travelers in Maine and parts of NH.

I would also say that a transcontinental route isn't totally unrealistic for PWM. LAX, SFO, LAS or SEA could be viable (At least seasonally) BDL and PVD have both seen transcon flight additions recently.
 
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I agree that most realistic international routes from PWM would be feasible with the current runway length. I would also prefer to have better domestic flights heading west and maybe adding SLC or PHX someday, LAX, SFO and SEA might be too far. FedEx flights are going to Memphis (1200 miles) which allows the aircraft to be light on fuel and they are probably utilizing every inch of runway and the pilot's margin of error is very slim! :)
 
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I think the first most likely regular service would be to Iceland; Icelandair or some of its newer clones provide the benefit of a one-stop to all of Europe, which can be craftily marketed as a "nonstop to Europe" since Iceland is geographically part of that continent.

The Toronto stuff makes sense but I would think TD would have been pushing for it if it really mattered to them.
 
Great points! Narrow body technology has allowed Portland’s 7,200 foot runway to be a connection to overseas.
On the topic of Iceland; it sounded like to me that there is a new airline”Play Airlines” that now operated there and it flies to Boston, Baltimore, and NY. This would be Portlands ideal partner. It’s all Airbus 321s which are very capable of landing at PWM and it’s technically a low cost carrier. Portland will be in communication with them for sure.
Would love to see transatlantic flights to Cali, Seattle, or even Phoenix. Anyone out west I’ve ever talked to loves Maine and visits frequently! Would be great to see a PWM-SFO, PWM-LAX, or PWM-PHX flight connecting Maine even more west.
Any idea when a customs area will be build at the Jetport? Seems necessary to get that done quickly.
 
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Customs (FIS) cannot happen until the Administration offices are moved to the east end of the terminal above baggage claim. As I mentioned earlier, flights from PWM to cities on the west coast would be difficult to pull off in my opinion. PVD extended its main runway in 2017 from 7000' to 8700' to help it add service to the west coast and it will finally get seasonal service to LAX on Breeze Airways starting next month. There are a lot of moving parts when you are upgrading and expanding a present terminal as compared to starting from scratch with a new one. Funding is a huge factor whether its derived from federal grants or revenue earned from PWM's enplanements via the passenger facility charges. The lack of travelers during the pandemic put a halt to numerous airport projects across the country and Portland is fortunate to have accomplished a few infrastructure improvements including the refurbishing of the primary runway. Hopefully the above Master Plan diagram helps with some of your questions and gives you a better understanding of PWM's priorities and optimistic timeline for future improvements.
 
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A320NEO and A321NEO plus the A320LR and A321LR are the most fuel efficient planes today. Boston to Seattle is 2169 NM. The max mileage on these is around 3200-3300 NM. Boston to Iceland is 2118NM. MTOW for most of these planes is 6900 ft. Frontier would love to have 2x a week service to Cancun.
 
I'm definitely not an airline industry expert...but if I had a crystal ball for the next 3-4 years...I would say the most realistic service improvements / expansions at PWM would be:

- United's PWM-DEN becoming a year-round route.
- United Adding PWM-IAH (Houston) at least seasonally
- Frontier adding more frequency on existing Florida routes. Daily flights to Orlando / Tampa / Miami
- Frontier adding a 2-3x weekly PWM-LAS
- Southwest adding PWM-DEN (On a seasonal basis to start)
- Southwest PWM-MDW (Chicago Midway) becoming a year-round route
- Either American or Delta flying PWM-RDU (Raleigh-Durham)
- Jetblue returning to year-round service PWM-JFK/LGA

On the International side:
- Air Canada flying PWM-YYZ (Toronto)
- PLAY flying PWM-KEF (Reykjavik) This would almost certainly be a 2-3x weekly summer seasonal route
- Frontier offering a winter-seasonal PWM-Cancun/ Caribbean destination 2-3x weekly

A lot of this is, of course, dependent on a lot of things...and the increasing likelihood of an economic recession could certainly limit what we see for new service for a while
 
Q: why the emphasis on Play over Icelandair? I ask because the latter is undoubtedly the more mature airline, and I know at one time Auto Europe had a relationship with them.
 
I strongly doubt we'll see direct flights to the West Coast; our industries don't align well with the major ones out there, we aren't big enough to generate spot travel and the routings are more versatile via the Mid-American hubs (DTW, ORD/Midway, DFW, DEN). More flights into those hubs would be excellent, however.
 
As we know it all depends on demand. Given the fact that we are so close to Boston there really is no demand for any international routes out of Portland. However I agree that we could use better routes to the western states. DEN, SLC, SEA, SAN would be great. But as I said it is all about demand. For example look at BZN (Bozeman, Montana). They have domestic routes which are the envy of much larger markets with direct flights to and from BOS, EWR, JFK, PHL, ATL, IAD and 15 other major cities. Why? Demand. Bozeman and Gallatin County are regularly ranked as the fastest growing areas in the country and is the premier destination for tourism in the west lying just north of Yellowstone Park. Is it unlikely Portland will ever see that kind of demand.
 

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BZN also has one of most beautiful terminals in the country on the inside. The new 4 gate concourse is stunning and gives you the feeling of a modern upscale ski lodge complete with fire pits and Montana themed design accents throughout!
 
Portlander said:
BZN also has one of most beautiful terminals in the country on the inside. The new 4 gate concourse is stunning and gives you the feeling of a modern upscale ski lodge complete with fire pits and Montana themed design accents throughout!
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Yep. I miss my hometown but with a median home price of $893k I can no longer afford to live there.
 
Portland, alas, lacks both Western skiing and geysers. I do think that, given a real Customs facility, we could support flights to Eastern Canada and Iceland (with the connections that brings).
 
Portlander said:
Portland's primary runway (11-29) opened this morning 2 days ahead of schedule and on budget and it's so much quieter around my neighborhood during the early morning push!
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The early morning push is crazy. I left around 6 am the other day and we sat in a 6 plane line for take off. Returned around 8 pm and the airport was completely, utterly dead.
 
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