Portlanders’ tips for traveling well

The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.

Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.

Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.

Artist Jacob Hashimoto’s canopy of kite-like discs reflects the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, with locally inspired graphics incorporated throughout.

Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.

At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.

The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.

Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.

Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.

Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.

Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.

Remember the feeling of walking through an Oregon forest for the first time?

That feeling inspired the design of the new Concourse B.

An early movement flow study for the new Concourse B.

The new Concourse B has great exposure to southern light.

Interior rendering for the new Concourse B.

The new Concourse B has Pacific Northwest touches like warm wood panels and indoor greenery.

Exterior rendering of the new Concourse B.

The six new ground loading gates for Alaska Airlines are bigger and brighter.

All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.

Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.

Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.

Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.

The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.

More lanes in our new and relocated exit toll plaza help passengers out of PDX faster.

Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.

The new terminal’s wooden roof (as seen in this close-up rendering, right) might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.

You’ll notice subtle nods to Pacific Northwest elements throughout the new space. The ripples and currents of our pristine rivers, for example, are inspiring the undulating flow of the wooden roof, as depicted in this architectural model (right).

We’re filling the new main terminal with a lot of Portland love — both in terms of regionally sourced materials and, well, doughnuts. (C’mon, what would PDX be without doughnuts?)

You’ll see a scene something like this when you enter the more spacious ticket lobby at PDX. This early architectural rendering previews the vision for the iconic wooden roof — inspired by Pacific Northwest nature, craft and our partly sunny skies.

Natural light, living trees and native Oregon foliage might give you the feeling of walking through a park, as this early architectural rendering shows.

Expanding the heart of the airport creates more spaces for the local shops and restaurants you love. Architects are thoughtfully planning these public spaces to resemble the human-friendly scale of your favorite Portland neighborhoods.

Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington

"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."

Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.

Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."

Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon

Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.

"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.

"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."

Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon

Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."

"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."

Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington

"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.

Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.

"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."

In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.

By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.

In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.

SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.

The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.

The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.