Portland International Jetport | PWM

From an email received from One Climate Future if anyone is interested...​

"Coffee & Climate: Jetport Sustainability​


We are excited to host February’s Coffee & Climate: Jetport Sustainability on Friday, February, 9th from 9am - 10am. Portland International Jetport Director Paul Bradbury is joining us to talk about sustainability initiatives implemented at the Jetport and future plans to work towards meeting the goals set in One Climate Future!

Fasten your seatbelts, secure all baggage underneath your seat or in the overhead compartments, and enjoy this Coffee & Climate.

Sign up for this Zoom get-together through this Zoom registration link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting."
 
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So for the summer / fall Frontier will have:

3x weekly RDU
3x weekly PHL
3-4 x weekly MCO

Not too bad! I think if they could re-add TPA and DEN they would be in a good position to compete with Breeze. They're already directly competing with Breeze with MCO and RDU. I'm glad to see that they're not retreating from PWM as I had initially worried they would.

Breeze has a much better product than Frontier (F9's seats are miserably cramped and uncomfortable) but Frontier is a much larger airline and can bring a lot of seats to a market.
 
Looking ahead at the next few weeks...Frontier is going double daily to MCO with mostly A321's . (To accommodate the school winter break rush) Looking at the booking seat maps it looks like most flights are at pretty full. Breeze definitely needs to add more lift to MCO if they want to keep up! 2x weekly doesn't compete with a 2x daily service even with comfier seats.
 
I think Breeze will increase service across their entire route map as the A220 aircraft that are on order (60) continue to be added to their fleet. It is a slow process which includes hiring the pilots and training the flight crews to support the new aircraft. This will hopefully lead to some longer range destinations out of Portland. (y)
 
I knew DEN would eventually go year round. There's been strong demand and even in the winter there's lots of ski traffic in addition to western connections. Plus United has been pushing to make DEN it's biggest hub so they want as much connectivity as possible there.

"Off-season" western connections have always been a big weak spot for the Jetport. I hope Delta and American respond by making MSP and DFW year-round as well.
 
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PWMFlyer said:
Video of Paul Bradbury-Coffee & Climate
He announces that United Denver flight is going year round!!!!

In case you missed the event, the recording can be found here
In case you missed it, here is our last newsletter featuring some of the things Paul mentioned, but you can always find more information about Portland International Jetport and its Sustainable Airpot Master Plan.
Paul Bradbury, Jetport Director: phb@portlandmaine.gov
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Thanks for sharing. Bradbury is seemingly always honest and a good speaker to discuss the Jetport. It's a mighty little airport, and he does his best within limitations. I like the way he handled the critic who had to point out its shortcomings with energy efficiency as compared to the space of Ocean Gateway. That was a dumb analogy to start. And another critic, worried about the harmfulness to the environment of the type of fire-fighting foam they are using. If it were up to this critic to use "friendlier" chemicals, we'd watch in a serious accident perhaps more people and even children burning to death. When it comes to minimizing accidents and deaths, the more effective the foam the better, despite its characteristics. Overall, when your building becomes LEED certified there is a reason for that, so he/they should have done more research before asking questions. I travel into and out of a lot of airports and the Jetport is a dream. My only complaint is that they get rid of that horrid and tacky taxidermy display before getting to baggage, and to replace it with a massive hi-rez illuminated mural of the peninsula, looking west, with the background of the snowcapped White Mountains. That's a dreamy shot.
 
Some parts of the jetport feel like a modern airport terminal for a major city designed by world-class architects.

Other parts of the jetport feel like a small-town regional airport that was designed in the 1960s and kept decorated by a local church volunteer group

It's an interesting mix.
 
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PWM has struggled to unify the newer portion of the concourse with the older with the exception of remodeled restrooms, new tile and carpet. However, the concrete floor of the new terminal looks drab and has numerous cracks throughout and needs to be resurfaced.
 
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Portlander said:
PWM has struggled to unify the newer portion of the concourse with the older with the exception of remodeled restrooms, new tile and carpet. However, the concrete floor of the new terminal looks drab and has numerous cracks throughout and needs to be resurfaced.
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You can't just "resurface" terrazzo flooring. The contractor should have been made to tear it all out and redo it as the cracks have been in the floor since it cured.
 
Installing tile over the terrazzo has been discussed as an option, too many years have passed to hold the original contractor responsible.
 
PWM is finally receiving $10.4 million to replace 3 aging jetways, adding two more with an extension bridge for Gates 12 and 13 and numerous terminal improvements which includes added gate seating. Presque Isle has also been awarded $6.5 million to construct a new terminal which was a little surprising being that American Express service to Newark is the only current option. Is this a build it and they will come scenario?
 
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Portlander said:
PWM is finally receiving $10.4 million to replace 3 aging jetways, adding two more with an extension bridge for Gates 12 and 13 and numerous terminal improvements which includes added gate seating. Presque Isle has also been awarded $6.5 million to construct a new terminal which was a little surprising being that American Express service to Newark is the only current option. Is this a build it and they will come scenario?
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Very much a "Build it and they will come" mentality. Right now PQI has 1-2 daily EAS flights to Newark with United. Those flights actually surprisingly seem to do well. United has added more frequency and bigger RJ's on the route and even dabbled with adding service to IAD.

The new terminal will have 3 gates. The hope (emphasis on "hope") is that a new terminal will both pull in more local travelers from Northern Maine and New Brunswick and make the area more attractive for tourists.

Why an airport that gets 2 flights a day needs a terminal with 3 gates is a bit beyond me...Realistically PQI would be lucky to land even one new low-frequency route.... but it's nice to see that horrible cramped 1950's terminal being replaced.

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Portlander said:
PWM is finally receiving $10.4 million to replace 3 aging jetways, adding two more with an extension bridge for Gates 12 and 13 and numerous terminal improvements which includes added gate seating. Presque Isle has also been awarded $6.5 million to construct a new terminal which was a little surprising being that American Express service to Newark is the only current option. Is this a build it and they will come scenario?
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Apparently there's also 1.1 million for a new terminal in Eastport. That airport - which is hoping to get EAS funding to, as a first step, get Southern Air to open a flight to Portland, was recently discussed in a Maine Monitor article here. (Apparenty Southern Air already services the Jetport somehow?)
 
And Senator Collins hailing from Caribou surely helped PQI seeing that she is on the appropriations committee and it appears to be a retirement gift similar to Senator Leahy's assistance with generous grants for BTV. She helped PWM with funding numerous times over the years so I applaud her efforts and hopefully my letter to her this past fall helped. Good for Eastport but I'll be annoyed if they end up stealing from Portland's catchment area!
 
markhb said:
Apparently there's also 1.1 million for a new terminal in Eastport. That airport - which is hoping to get EAS funding to, as a first step, get Southern Air to open a flight to Portland, was recently discussed in a Maine Monitor article here. (Apparenty Southern Air already services the Jetport somehow?)
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Interesting. PWM shows up as a bookable destination on their website but doesn't appear on their route map.

I could see a Cape Air-esque service like Southern Airways Express flying Cessna Caravan's from PWM to Eastport and Presque Isle working well. There's a big need to connect these small aging communities with major hospitals. Growing up in Presque Isle it was common to see people making the 5 hour drive to Portland for a medical appointment or boarding a US Airways turboprop for an appointment in Boston.
 
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