Portland International Jetport | PWM

NR2Portland said:
With multiple articles or news stories talking about international flights, the big arrival of Breeze, and terminal expansion, I’ve done a little SketchUp terminal expansion design. Here are a couple angles of the idea. I think if Breeze does well and they invest in their own gates instead of using the city owned gate (5 or 6) and the customs are built, an expansion like this is possible within the next 10 years!
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When entering the extension of the terminal you immediately get local businesses like an LL Bean store and Aroma Joes coffee and as you keep going down the concourse you will see chains like subway and Dunkin. There are two drink/smoothie/restaurant bars in the middle of the hallway that could be great spots for some local or national brands. Also had to ad some marketing for Breeze!
Let me know what you think and if any changes should be made. I’ve been in communication with Mr. Bradbury in the past and may send this idea to him as well!
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Would l,ove to see a LL Bean store, but it would need significant traffic to see ROI for the store. Plus all these stores would have to go through the corporate Sodexo, Aramark, etc.
Great design work of the terminal. Gives Gensler a run for their money. I would like to see a terminal expansion on the other end with a new ATC. Just a dream... I heard from a ATC that if a new tower was built in SOPO, they would lose control of their sector.
 
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Charleston, SC will also be a great addition to the options out of PWM. Frontier's failure to acquire Spirit Airlines seems to have stunted their growth as they have scaled back service in many markets including Portland which opened up an opportunity for Breeze.
 
PWMFlyer said:
Breeze is up to 6 destinations. They have more planned which should demand more space. The jetport has submitted a plan to the City Council for its first reading to expand baggage and parking.
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The airport at Islip, NY is about an hour from Manhattan to the west and an hour headed east to The Hamptons. The Budget Car Rental lady at the Jetport told me last week that corporate is expecting a 20% increase in rentals this summer. Sounds like a New Yorker invasion!
 
New airline and destination announcements are always a positive. For a city of its size Portland does well on the air service side. PWM definitely benefited from new service as a leisure destination during Covid. That seems to be settling down and getting back to more of the hub-spoke system. Breeze goes against that, as their recent adds are geared toward leisure travelers, but the Florida and southeast routes may be the only ones to make it. Frontier seems to be just hanging on with RDU service for the summer and I'm not sure if they continue to serve PWM given their northeast pullback and reductions at PWM. Perhaps if any air service incentives were given and are expiring? I would think another airline would jump on nonstop Orlando service if Frontier hesitates.
I totally agreed with the earlier posts of updating the murals in baggage claim as they've been there a long time (if they haven't been changed). The Acadia one is timeless, but the idea to replace the Back Cove pic with one that had the Headlight, Skyline, and Mt Washington in one shot would be a great addition and one that would wow visitors.
It also agree with the idea for LL Bean to have a small retail presence at the Jetport, just for the name recognition. I wonder if that would be possible and run through the airport's master concessionaire agreement as the national airport trend is to bring in known local/regional brands.
 
Re-announced today, Breeze will be starting winter-seasonal service to Orlando (MCO) Starting September 6th. Just twice weekly to start but using the larger A220-300 aircraft.

Breeze Airways to offer direct flights from Portland to Orlando (bangordailynews.com)

I wouldn't be too surprised if Breeze expands with more sunbelt destinations from PWM for the winter months. Fort Myers and Sarasota / Bradenton seems like reasonable additions....Maybe even Savannah or Las Vegas....

Breeze seems to be doing well at PWM already. I think they can make some routes work that Frontier couldn't. Yes Breeze is a low-cost carrier, but they're definitely a step above Frontier in terms of onboard experience and I think that means they could quite easily capture more of the snowbird demographic on PWM-Florida routes. An ultra-low cost budget carrier like Frontier isn't the right fit for the demographics on those types of routes.
 
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Portlander said:
Im not crazy about PWM's slogan "Maine's Home Airport". It's not bad but I'd prefer "Gateway to Vacationland" if I were on the marketing team.
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Undoubtedly a very unpopular opinion but I've always hated "vacationland" It's a corny marketing slogan from the mid 20th century that just happened to stick. On our state license plates I'd much prefer it say "Dirigo" or
"The Pine Tree State" on the bottom.
 
Though I personally like vacationland because it is historically associated with only one state in the union, I understand your dislike and will compromise with "Gateway to Maine" instead. :)
 
"Pine Tree State" would have looked perfect on the chickadee plate.

Incidentally, I've seen 2 or 3 Youtube videos lately that thought "Welcome Home" on the "Welcome to Maine" sign in Kittery was somewhere between presumptuous and obnoxious. But now I think of this for the Jetport slogan...

"The Way Flights Should Be".
 
Very clever Mark! Another option with a Maine accent would be: Portland International Jetport, "You CAN get there from here".
 
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Great news for Breeze. I’ve personally been keeping data on how full Breezes flights to and from Portland have been and it’s quite impressive!
TPA-PWM and PWM-TPA has averaged over 90% full with a bunch of sell outs.
CHS-PWM has been around 90% average and PWM-CHS has been a little lower but a solid 85% average.
The Pittsburgh route has done better than I thought, averaging around 85% full.
Norfolk has been good but not great, averaging around 75-80% to and from PWM.
I really hope to see Breeze invest some money into Portland to make a mini hub. The demand has been there so far. I’ll update you all at the end of the summer with totals and averages from the data. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Breeze eventually starts A220 service overseas and uses the Jetport as their “gateway” in the next 10 years.
There is a lot to look forward to!
 
On a separate note, does anyone have info on what the construction in the gate 14 area and de-ice ramp area is? Probably just underground pipe work?
 
Great load factors so far NR2Portland and thanks for the research. Anything 85% or higher is normally a sign of profitability and I expected ORF to be the most challenging of Breeze's destinations. If NAS Brunswick was still operational it might be a different story for demand to the Hampton Roads area.
 
Thinking this morning about where the Jetport could be in terms of service within the next 2-3 years. I've assembled my crystal-ball of predictions for how PWM will evolve between now and summer of 2026....

First off: The bad:
  • Breeze will end at least one of its current summer seasonal routes (as mentioned above, Norfolk seems to be the lowest yielding route so far)

  • Either Frontier or Sun Country will retreat from PWM entirely. My guess would be Frontier. They're down to only serving Raleigh-Durham and their PWM-Orlando service is only scheduled for the fall at 1x weekly. They seem to be scaling down or abandoning a lot of their New England routes.

The good:
  • Breeze will add more summer seasonal services to the Midwest and southeast and potentially further west. (Raleigh-Durham, Cincinnati and Richmond seem like realistic adds)
  • Breeze will also add new sunbelt routes for the winter season. Fort Myers, Savannah and West Palm Beach seem like easy wins.
  • Delta will add PWM-Salt Lake City as a summer seasonal service
  • United will make PWM-Denver a year-round route
  • JetBlue will return to year-round service to JFK
  • Southwest will (re) add Nashville as a summer seasonal service
  • American will fly daily from PWM to Dallas-Ft. Worth as a summer seasonal service
  • American will continue to add more mainline capacity year round. They've already started using mainline aircraft on PWM-DCA and PWM-PHL in addition to CLT.
  • Once the FIS facility is complete, either Air Canada Express or Porter will add a PWM-Toronto service.
Of course, all of this is dependent on the overall state of the economy and airline industry, which are both facing numerous obstacles to growth right now.
 
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Jetport needs a covered pickup area outside baggage claim (for bad weather) and a better first impression going down the escalator to baggage claim. Also, to replace that worn soiled carpet in the older gates section.
 
I like your PWM-SLC on Delta but they are so focused on DTW and seasonal MSP as their westbound connection I doubt it will ever happen. I do see Frontier eventually bailing on Portland and PVD while maintaining limited service to BOS and BDL. Sun Country, no loss and most people don't even know they fly out of PWM. Portland lost out on the last round of airport infrastructure money which has delayed the FIS facility, two additional jetways and baggage claim expansion. NR2Portland, the work that is currently going on at the western end of the terminal is expansion of the concrete apron which is needed to accommodate aircraft once the two new jetways are added. Hopefully the airport will receive the needed federal funding next year and additional money once the city of Portland approves it's new budget in the next few weeks. Burlington, VT cleaned up and received all of their funding requests, must have been a retirement gift for Senator Leahy who has been a huge proponent of BTV. There was 44 departures today with 28 of them being mainline which is a positive!
 
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