Because virtually no one else in the local media is breaking this story, I will:
Northwest Airlines announced earlier today that it will offer daily nonstop service between Portland and Tokyo beginning June 10. This represents the third new international service to originate from PDX in less than two years. While my preference would have been for an Asian flag carrier like Singapore, I am excited that Northwest has stepped up to resume nonstop PDX-Asia air service, which has been missing since Delta halted its flights in the wake of 9/11.
Now if Northwest and marketing partners KLM, Continental and Alaska/Horizon would formally join the SkyTeam alliance anchored by Delta (an existing NWA code-share partner) and Air France (who created a joint holding company/alliance with KLM last year), then things would really be cooking. PDX would then have a significant presence by both Star Alliance (United, Lufthansa, Mexicana, et al) and SkyTeam (Delta, et al). As it stands, the marketing combination of Alaska, Horizon, Continental, Delta and Northwest represents a signficant portion of the air traffic through PDX.
Northwest previously expressed concern about ensuring that its passengers do not have to clear security again at PDX to connect to or from domestic flights operated by its marketing partners (Alaska, Horizon, Continental, Delta). As Northwest will fly from Concourse D / International and its partners operate in Concourses A, B, C / Domestic, I'm very curious to learn what solution the airport will create. (Currently PDX has two security checkpoints: one for A, B, and C and a second for D and E).
News coverage:
Northwest to add Portland-Tokyo nonstop - 2004-01-07 - The Business Journal of Portland
Northwest Airlines Press Release - Northwest To Fly Portland – Tokyo Nonstop
(I find it somewhat amazing that the Port of Portland does not have a press release on its site, nor does Governor Kulongoski's site.)
Addendum: After some exploration, I found that the PDX site does in fact acknowledge this new development here, but the link off of the home page has not been updated to reflect we "got" the service. It still reads: Help Bring Asia Air Service to our Region. Someone please change the link text -- no one is going to find the "announcement" except by mistake or serious curiosity. When you've got news, put it on page one. End of story.
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