Community Engagement

Greetings from PDX!

One thing we often hear about the PDX Airport is that it feels like home the second you touch down. The carpet. Local flavors and musicians. Friendly people.

We’re looking for creative leaders like you to help continue to shape what “home” means at PDX. To be even more specific, we’d like your participation in our International Air Service Committee.

I’d love to briefly (I promise) tell you more about this committee.

In 2001, Portland lost all its transoceanic air service. In response, the mayors of Portland and Vancouver, in concert with the Port of Portland, established the International Air Service Committee (IASC), inviting regional stakeholders to help us bring international flights back to PDX.

The committee meets twice a year, where we discuss strategies to recruit and retain international nonstop flights to Europe, Asia, Canada, and Mexico. These international flights are critical to our region’s economy. They create more local jobs, generate direct foreign investment, and make us a major player in the global tourism industry. In fact, the economic impact of a single year-round transoceanic flight can exceed $100 million annually for our regional economy.

Thanks to the IASC, PDX went from no transoceanic flights in 2001 to 13 in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

We sit at a new turning point today. The uncertainty of international air travel due to the pandemic has impacted PDX and our airline partners. As we look ahead to 2022 and beyond, we think this is the perfect time to invite a new group of community stakeholders to join the IASC and play an active role in helping bring international service back to PDX. Our goal by next summer is to get back to our 2019 flight numbers – and then build on that.

To make this happen, we need creative leaders like you to join the IASC, attend our semi-annual meetings (we make these meetings fun), and become official PDX Ambassadors as you engage your network of contacts throughout our community.

Interested? Simply click this link, which will provide the Port of Portland with your contact information and allow us to invite you to our next meeting in Spring 2022. You can also forward this email to fellow board members, co-workers, or any person you think might be a good fit.

If you have questions about the committee, please email me directly and our Air Service Development Team will be in touch with you within a week.

Thank for your considering this invitation to join the IASC. We would love for you to become a "PDX Ambassador."

Can’t wait to hear from you!

David

David Zielke
Director, Air Service Development
Port of Portland
971-235-5312/cell