Portland Airport’s Embarrassment

When Delta Air Lines ended its two nonstop flights between Portland and Japan, it meant the only flights leaving Oregon’s largest city for foreign destinations would go just 250 miles north to Canada.

“We lost prestige,” said Richard Gritta, a University of Portland finance professor and airline expert. “It’s a blow to say we are an international airport, and all we can say is we fly to Vancouver.”

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and Rep. David Wu, both Democrats, are trying to correct the embarrassing lack of foreign flights at Portland International Airport.

Both have been working independently to lure an Asian airline to pick up where Delta left off. In recent trade missions to the Far East, they haven’t gotten any commitments but did get a few promises to give the Portland market consideration.

EVA Air and China Airlines, both based in Taiwan, told Wu earlier this month that they would study Portland’s passenger and cargo potential.

Kitzhaber met with All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Korean Air during a four-day trip to Japan and Korea last month.

Both are working with the Port of Portland, which owns the airport, to create incentives for airlines. The list of possibilities includes tax credits, revenue-sharing deals with the airport’s duty-free store and commitments from the business community to guarantee use of any prospective flights.

Darryl Jenkins, director of George Washington University’s Aviation Institute, said losing flights can be a “hysterical event” for communities, and some will devise economic packages to entice airlines. “Whether it is worth the money or not is a different question,” he said.

But Wu believes Portland’s vitality during the next 100 years depends on maintaining international ties. It comes down “to whether Portland is an international city or not,” Wu said. “I have no intention of letting Portland slip.”

Delta’s decision to end the Japan-Portland route followed months of allegations that Asian travelers who arrived at Portland International were harassed by federal immigration authorities. The complaints earned the city the nickname “Deportland” among some Asian travelers and resulted in the retirement of the local chief of the Immigration and Naturalization Service as well as new training for local INS inspectors.

Delta insisted Portland’s bad image in Asia had nothing to do with its decision to end the international flights. Toyojiro Soejima, Japan’s consul general in Portland, said the airport’s reputation has improved.

Delta said that during the 12 months ending in September it lost $10 million on its flights between Portland and Japan. By moving the Tokyo flight to New York and the Nagoya flight to Los Angeles, Delta said it will increase its revenue by as much as $40 million a year.

The Port of Portland and business leaders have formed an international steering committee to help the community put its best foot forward.

“It’s the solid business case, how much traffic, how much cargo is moving,” said Suzanne Miller, general manager of marketing and customer service for the airport. “What are the trade ties? What are the cultural ties? What are the business ties?”

But University of Portland’s Gritta is skeptical. Portland, he said, is a “smaller” big city situated too close to Seattle and San Francisco, two major hubs for international flights.

“The fact is if [airlines] can’t make money doing it, they are not going to fly it. I wonder how any carrier could project a profit when Delta couldn’t?”