Over the next five years, you’ll see some new designs take shape at the Portland International Airport — and they’re all inspired by the places we call home.
Behind this $2 billion investment is a mission to make PDX even more, well, PDX. That means creating healthy spaces optimized for sustainability, earthquake resilience and your wellbeing. Along the way, we’re opening up more opportunities for local businesses and communities throughout our region.
What’s it going to look like? We may not have a time machine, but we do have a vision for the future of travel at PDX. Scroll on to get a sneak peek.
Here’s how the action will unfold over the next few years
Now
PNW-inspired designs revealed
Pssst … want to see something cool? Local architects have unveiled new designs for the airport’s main terminal. It’s spacious, flexible and green, with plenty of Pacific Northwest character.
Get the scoop
Builders tackle some big challenges
Hard hats on and sleeves rolled: In early April, we closed the Clocktower Plaza for good so that our crew of 1,250 pros can get to work on bringing the PDX Next vision to live.
Learn more
Say hello to a brand-new Concourse B
B gets bigger and brighter, with brunch star Screen Door and specialty roaster Good Coffee adding more Oregon flavor to the new daylight-filled digs.
Flexible transit hub, beep beep!
You’ll get in and out of PDX faster when we open a new basecamp for car rentals and parking, complete with more close-in spots and flexibility for future modes of transit.
Rideshare center eases congestion
Rideshare riders, rejoice: You’ll find your driver painlessly in the new dedicated pickup center for services like Lyft and Uber. This helps reduce congestion for everyone else, too.
PDX employee shuttles pick up speed
If you work at PDX, your commute gets easier as employee shuttles to and from the airport get even speedier.
The main terminal is complete
Walk into the spacious and green new main terminal, where you’ll find it easy to get to your gate thanks to expanded security checkpoints, an intuitive layout, and more local places to eat and shop.
In the works for more than four years, the freshly expanded Concourse E opened in July 2020, with sweeping glass walls framing views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River. This bright new home for Southwest Airlines is flexible and spacious, making way for clusters of new restaurants and shops as well as imaginative work by contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto soaring overhead. It’s all thanks to the creativity and hustle of the 2,000 builders, makers and architects who brought the vision to life.
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.
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.
Artist Jacob Hashimoto’s canopy of kite-like discs reflects the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, with locally inspired graphics incorporated throughout.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
The next time you drive to PDX, you’ll see the completed Concourse E extension stretching out along Airport Way.
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.
Summer 2020
Hennebery Eddy and Fentress
Skanska
6 new gates for Southwest Airlines
7 new shops and restaurants
1 - a landmark lounge named Juliett
The completely redeveloped and expanded Concourse B opens up more possibilities for travelers, including six new gates for Alaska Airlines. To make room, we said goodbye to the dim, crowded Concourse A — demolishing this aging wing of the airport in favor of a concourse made for 21st-century aviation. Architects have embraced the romance of flying with floor-to-ceiling windows, where kids can watch as planes taxi to the runway and climb skyward. Everything in the interior space is about putting you in a good mood, from leafy foliage to common areas where you can de-stress. It’s all based on research that proves what Oregonians already know: Access to nature makes us happier and healthier.
Screen Door opens at PDX in Spring 2022.
Good Coffee opens at PDX in Spring 2022.
Screen Door opens at PDX in Spring 2022.
Good Coffee opens at PDX in Spring 2022.
Arriving soon: More of your favorite culinary hot spots.
You deserve more local flavor, and you’re getting it when two heavyweights of Portland’s food scene open up shop. Come Spring 2022, you can dip into the latest cafe from acclaimed specialty roaster Good Coffee, bringing minimalism, cute houseplants and a light espresso kick to the new concourse. And B stands for brunch with the arrival of Screen Door, which is just as famous for its fried chicken and waffles as its hour-plus wait for a table. We’re pretty confident you won’t have to wait as long at PDX.
December 2021
ZGF Architects
Hoffman Skanska
ASAP, so we’re on it
6 new gates for Alaska Airlines
2 new culinary hot spots
We’re rolling out a series of improvements so that your commute is even easier and speedier. Do you zip on the MAX or cycle to PDX? We’re making space for light-rail and bike-path enhancements. Hailing a ride on your phone? A dedicated pickup area arriving in 2023 will streamline the entire experience. We also recently brought all car rentals on-site and opened a flexible transit hub with 2,225 close-in parking spots. That’s right, this modern basecamp for ground transportation means you’ll be on the road in no time.
November 2021
YGH Architects
JE Dunn
2,225, including 30 Americans with Disabilities Act spots
0, as all rentals come on-site in 2021
Enough to earn an order of Screen Door’s fried chicken
When future-you steps into the airport, you might feel like PDX has gotten a little PDX-ier — and that’s by design. The local architects behind the new main terminal are drawing inspiration from the lush landscapes of our region. Fast forward to the grand opening in 2025 and you’ll see the footprint of the airport’s core — aka the ticketing and lobby areas — nearly double in size. This gives us space to bring more Pacific Northwest character to the heart of PDX, even as we make it far more energy-efficient. The concept will feel sort of like walking through a park, with an iconic wooden roof spanning a bright space full of leafy foliage and real-life trees. We’re keeping things open and flexible, too, so we meet the needs of our region for decades to come.
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.
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.