REDMOND, OR -- After several years of work, the Redmond Airport has secured its easternmost route, with American Airlines. "Starting May 6 of 2024 until October 6, we’re going to have a seasonal direct Dallas flight from Redmond," announced Airport Director Zach Bass on Monday. "We’ve been looking at Dallas for quite a long time. It’s one of the larger markets that we don’t have direct to." Bass says several major hiccups led to long delays in negotiations, "COVID and some of the pilot shortage issues that are going on in the industry have made it take a little longer than I would’ve liked." He tells KBND News, "We got a grant from the Department of Transportation to help kind of push this along, which we were hoping to use earlier. It just kind of - it came to fruition now and will start in the summer. So, we’re excited."

The Nonstop flights will depart Dallas at 10:15 a.m. and land at Redmond at 12:31 p.m. The outbound flight leaves RDM at 1:16 p.m and arrives in Dallas at 6:57 p.m. "It’ll be daily and on an Airbus 320, 150-seater," says Bass.

The new destination provides a lot of opportunities for local travelers, "It is [American Airlines'] headquarters and largest hub. Almost 800 daily flights on American leave Dallas-Fort Worth," says Bass, "So basically, you can get from Redmond to Dallas, and I think from there almost anywhere you want to go; especially with connections to the southeast part of the country, and then even Mexico, Central America and basically anywhere."

The announcement comes just ahead of the return of Alaska Air's Portland-Redmond flight, which starts November 29th after a two year hiatus. Flights to Palm Springs on Avelo Airlines have also returned for the season.