Portland International Airport

Site visit: Portland International Airport

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It’s been a whlie since we stopped in at Portland International Airport (PDX).

So we fixed that with a quick visit to see how construction is going on the new roof and other spaces, do some shopping, and get a shoe selfie with the terminal’s one remaining patch of old PDX carpet.

A full story will follow, but here are a few some snaps from a 9,000-step hike through the PDX Airport.

The New Roof

A new 9-acre mass timber roof has been built off-site and will be put in place over the existing terminal and a terminal extension in giant pieces. The first piece of the roof has just been put in place.

The Last Patch of Carpet

The old carpet pattern at PDX has gained iconic status. A new patch is promised for someplace in the new main terminal. But until then, the only place to see and snap a selfie with a remnant of the old rug is in the tiny ‘listening room’ at the back of Tender Loving Empire’s store on Concourse E, near Gate E5.

Shopping

We didn’t get to do all the shopping we’d planned. But were were delighted to see the great sticker selection at the Made in Oregon shop on Concourse C.

And at the Tillamook Market on Concourse E we spotted ice-cream from Oregon’s famed Tillamook Creamery as well as Tillamook Cheese Curds, which are only only sold here, at the creamery out in Tillamook (86 miles from the airport) and online.

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

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Drama at Dallas Love Field

Operations resumed late Monday afternoon at Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) after a frightening incident involving shots fired inside the terminal building.

According to Dallas police, a woman entered the airport near the ticket counter, went into a bathroom, and exited wearing a hoodie and brandishing a gun. She began shooting at the ceiling and was taken into custody after being wounded by a Dallas police officer on duty.

No one else was injured, but flights were grounded for several hours. All passengers had to be rescreened, more than 1000 flights were delayed, and more than 100 flights were canceled as a result of the incident.

Portland International Airport roof report

Portland International Airport (PDX) is getting a new timber roof and it’s both quite impressive and quite a complicated undertaking.

Here’s a short video showing one of the important steps it takes to install a 9-acre mass timber roof over an existing terminal.

Here’s what it will look like when the project is done.

Meanwhile, over at PIT Airport

As long as we’re looking at time-lapse construction videos, here’s one from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT), where they’re building a new terminal.

At airports: a giant flamingo, doodles, & Disney salute

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Some birds are welcome at airports

Their giant flamingo public artwork won’t arrive until 2022, but the folks at Tampa International Airport (TPA) are clearly very excited. We can’t blame them. This bird looks like it will be a stunner.

PDX offering prizes for doodles

Sasquatch and Chill By Vanessa Soberanis

There’s a lot of construction going on at Portland International Airport (PDX) and airport officials are being very creative with the signage in the terminal while all the work is going on.

Through October 8, 2021, PDX is inviting the public to create and upload Northwest-inspired PDX doodle-art that might someday be displayed at the airport. Everyone is welcome to vote on their favorite doodles. The designs that get the most votes will be featured on digital monitors at the airport and on PDX social media, and show up on custom t-shirts. The winning artists will get coveted PDX swag and gift cards from PDX shops and restaurants.

Orlando Int’l Airport celebrates a Disney anniversary

Walt Disney World Resort is turning 50 and Orlando International Airport (MCO) is joining in on the celebrations with special decorations in the terminal train stations, banners, decals, and floor projections. Our favorite: a giant 50th Anniversary tea cup and themed backdrop perfect for photo ops.

Travel Tidbits

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Here are some of the attractions and news announcements we’re reading about this week.

A Masterpiece Moment in a Museum

During the pandemic, we discovered Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment digital series. The videos celebrate great works of art from museums across the United States.

Each video, hosted by a leading museum director, shares insights and commentary on a piece they have selected from their collection. Here’s the latest:

https://youtu.be/HrCeSMKWNkE

Sky Squad Lands at BWI Airport

SkySquad is a travel tech company that arranges for a ‘helping hand’ at airports. The service is designed to offer assistance to families, seniors, pet owners, or anyone who needs some help navigating the travel experience, and now travelers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) can book it.

With fees starting at $49, the concierge-style service provides assistants who can greet customers at their car door to help them unload luggage and then guide them through the check-in and checkpoint process and out to the gate.

Sound like something you or someone you know could use? SkySquad is also available at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG). Next up: Ft Lauderdale.

New PDX Coloring Book

There’s a lot of construction going on at Portland International Airport (PDX) right now, which can add an extra layer of stress to anyone’s journey.

To make getting through PDX easier and more fun – especially for families with kids – PDX has put together a new coloring book with whimsical characters and some fun facts about the airport.

The text is in English and Spanish, and each booklet has images that match larger counterparts on the walls and on the giant post-it notes throughout the terminal.

We’re making this an early nomination for “Airport Amenity of the Week.”

PDX Airport’s Construction Comic

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Here’s a great idea.

There’s a lot of construction going on at Portland International Airport (PDX) right now. And lots of detours in the terminal for travelers.

So the airport with its own movie theater is getting arty and using a comic to spread the word about what’s going on.

Oregon-based artist Aki Ruiz teamed up with writer JD Shadel for this project, which tells the story of a young man and his service dog making their way through the airport and learning about the changes in store.

Great idea! And great job!

We’re declaring this the Airport Amenity of the Week.

What’s up at Portland International Airport?

Airport Terminals,

Our first post-pandemic road trip takes us to Oregon, starting at – where else – Portland International Airport (PDX).

The airport is getting a new main terminal and we stopped in to get an “in-progress” view and to learn about what it will take to make the project happen.

Here are some snaps of what the terminal looks like now.

Sadly, one of our favorite features of PDX, the pre-security shopping street with branches of many local favorites, is gone and not coming back. But many of these shops still have post-security outlets, and additional local shops are opening now, with more on the way.

Outside, things look pretty torn up too. But we were assured that the construction is not getting in the way of flight schedules. No small feat!

Here’s are some renderings of what the new terminal will look like. And below, a recent PDX tweet with a video of what we’ll see inside the new terminal. It looks like it will be pretty snazzy, pretty Portland, and very northwest.

Airports celebrate mittens, Peeps, new terminals, and the Super Bowl match-up

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We spent the weekend gathering up as many social media postings we could find that featured airport-themed images of Bernie Sanders and his mittens.

If you missed that, or want to see what we can up with, find the Stuck at the Airport #BernieMittens meme archive here.

You may have also missed our Airport Amenity of the Week. Some weeks we have a lot of airport amenities in the running. Last week, this table full of free Peeps at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) in Allentown, PA was hands down the winner.

If you have a cool new airport amenity to nominate during this week, let us know.

We were also heartened to see some airports posting previews of future terminals. Thank-you Portland International Airport (PDX) and Nashville International Airport (BNA) for giving us some new spaces to look forward to.

And Tampa International Airport (TPA) and Kansas City International Airport (KCI) are very excited about the teams that will be playing in the Super Bowl this year.

LEGO masterpiece lands at PDX Airport

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A new creation by Portland LEGO artist Erik Mattson is on display at Oregon’s Portland International Airport (PDX).

Mattson’s scale replica of Portland’s St. John’s Bridge is made with about 120,000 LEGO pieces and is 4-feet-tall, 2-feet-wide, and 32-feet-long. It is built to scale with one LEGO “Stud” equaling 1 foot.

The only part that isn’t made of LEGO pieces is the bridge suspension, which is made of fishing line.

Mattson’s LEGO version of the Portland’s St. Johns Bridge is in the Concourse DE display case through July 2020 as part of the PDX Rotating Art Program, which shared these images.

Here’s what the real St. John’s bridge looks like. The steel suspension bridge is the tallest bridge in Portland and spans the Willamette River in Portland.

Credit: Cacophony, via Wikimedia.

This isn’t the first LEGO creation Erik Mattson has shared with travelers passing through Portland International Airport. His 80,000-piece LEGO sculpture of Oregon’s iconic Multnomah Falls was on display in 2018.

Powell’s Books out at PDX Airport

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Here’s yet another reason to curse COVID-19.

Powell’s Books has permanently closed both the store and the kiosk it operates at Portland International Airport.

Book lovers know Portland’s Powell’s Book as the iconic store that has been selling new and used books since 1971.

The company’s flagship location, Powell’s City of Books, in downtown Portland is a block long and boasts more than a million books. The store hosts hundreds of author readings and appearances each year.

The Powell’s Books branch at PDX is a rarity in airport book shops in that it carries new and used books and has been operating for 30 years.

Besides the joy of having a real bookstore at the airport, many travelers loved being able to order a book and pick it up at the airport on their way out of town. Or when they landed.

Better yet, the airport branch of Powell’s Book was located pre-security, with lot of other shops that draw locals as well.

Since Covid-19 blew in, Powell’s has shuttered all its locations, but is still offering shipping and pick-up. Powell’s plans to reopen its downtown flagship store and, perhaps, its other branches in town. But the company has decided that will not reopen its airport shop or the concourse kiosk.

“The privilege of welcoming book lovers to Portland, and sending Portlanders off on their travels with a good book in hand, has been a true gift, Emily Powell, CEO of Powell’s Books, said in a statement, “It’s hard for me to imagine our future without the airport, and without the airport’s seasoned team of booksellers.”

Shops closing at other airports too

Losing Powell’s Books at PDX is a heart breaker. But, sadly, it is not the only popular airport shop – or restaurant – that PDX and many other airports around the country are losing.

As passenger numbers stay in the dumps, many airport concessions can barely afford to stay open or reopen.

Post-pandemic, we’re sure to see a great many shuttered airport shops.

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

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Wouldn’t it be nice right now to be making your way to an airport and getting ready to visit a new city or an old favorite?

That time will come. For now, here are some tidbits from airports around the country.

Pay respects to civil rights icon John Lewis at ATL Airport

In April 2019, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) unveiled an exhibit in the domestic atrium titled “John Lewis – Good Trouble” to honor the longtime U.S. Congressman and civil rights icon.

Lewis died late last week, on July 17, and the exhibit has turned into a memorial tribute where travelers can stop and pay respects.

New Concourse E extension at PDX Airport

Courtesy Port of Portland

We shared the news last week about the opening of the new Concourse E extension at Portland International Airport (PDX).

Here’s a bit more about the project.

The extension brings the first new gates to PDX in more nearly 20 years and offers views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia Rivier.

The new concourse extension also features two aerial sculptures by Jacob Hashimoto featuring 11,000 paper kits and 450 different graphics representing Portland’s river, bridges, and neighborhoods.

Hashimoto’s PDX artwork may be familiar to travelers. He also has his work displayed at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), in the lobby of SFO Grand Hyatt.

A new concourse at Nashville International Airport too

Portland isn’t the airport that cut the ribbon on a new concourse last week.

On Friday, July 17, the first Southwest Airlines flight took off from Nashville International Airport’s (BNA) new $292 million Concourse D.

https://twitter.com/Fly_Nashville/status/1284259427462402049?s=20