REDMOND, OR -- For those not wanting to brave the pass this winter, direct flights between Redmond and Portland resume next month. Redmond Airport Director Zach Bass says Alaska Airlines dropped the route in 2021, "Kind of a few things happened, right? We had COVID. Since COVID, we’ve had a pilot shortage. So some of these really short length flights, they’ve used those pilots for maybe longer length ones; in a different capacity." Bass adds, "Most people were kind of flying from Redmond to Portland and then taking that hop down to California. Now we have those direct flights on large aircraft. So, in a sense, they kind of cannibalize their own service."
Alaska’s Redmond to Portland flights will be much more limited than before. It’s seasonal for now, November 29th through April 10th. And, just once a day in each direction, "It actually leaves Redmond at 7:40 in the morning, you get into Portland around 8:30. And then it comes back at night. It leaves Portland at 8:45 and gets back into Redmond at 9:30." Before COVID, Alaska flew several times a day between Portland and Redmond, year round.
Bass tells KBND News travelers need to step up and book tickets if they want it to remain, "Really, it just comes down to using the service. We heard a pretty good outcry about the public wanting this service, and the way we keep it going year round and more frequencies for options is to use it."
