PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – If you’re planning on traveling through the Portland International Airport over Thanksgiving weekend, you may want to start making a game plan now.
Ahead of the upcoming holiday season, Alaska Airlines said they expect an 35% increase in travelers, or 85,000 passengers, at PDX during the last weekend of November.
“In Portland, Alaska is expecting to see the largest surge in passenger volume across its network for Thanksgiving Weekend,” an airline spokesperson said, meaning the percentage increase of passengers at PDX will be greater than anywhere else on the West Coast.
According to Alaska, the holiday weekend is the busiest travel period of their fall season and they expect to see nearly half a million travelers fly between Friday, Nov. 29 and Sunday, Dec. 1.
The most popular travel destination among Alaska’s West Coast hubs is Hawaii with 66 daily flights running from the continental U.S. to the state all weekend.
Additionally, the airline has seen an increased popularity in small destinations such as Missoula, Montana, and Bellingham, Washington.
“To respond to the rising trend to these hidden gems, we’ve increased capacity between Bellingham and Seattle by 40%, adding one additional flight each way compared to last year,” officials said.
