If you’ve flown out of Concourse B, or seen the wooden curves of a new roof appear atop the main terminal, you’ve already caught a glimpse of the new Portland International Airport taking shape.
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 will it look like in 2025 when the PDX Next project is finished? Scroll on to get a sneak peek at the changes we’ve already made — and what’s to come.
In 2025, when future-you steps into the airport, you’ll see the airport’s core — 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 the airport more energy efficient. The local architects behind the new main terminal have drawn inspiration from the lush landscapes of our region. The new main terminal may feel like a walk through the forest, with an iconic wood-lattice ceiling spanning over a bright space full of leafy foliage and real, live trees. We’re keeping the space open and flexible, too, so we meet the needs of our region for decades to come.
2025
ZGF
Hoffman Skanska JV
20, including Loyal Legion, Grassa and Paper Epiphanies
49, in the form of ceiling skylights
11
10 (with the original carpet design!)
We’re rolling out a series of improvements to make your commute even easier and speedier. Do you zip in on the MAX or cycle to PDX? We’re making space for light-rail and bike-path enhancements. Hailing a ride on your phone? In 2023, a new dedicated pickup area will streamline the entire experience. In 2021, we brought all car rentals on-site and opened a flexible transit hub with 2,225 close-in parking spots. (Bonus: 24 new EV charging stations in short-term parking and 11 in long-term parking.) This modern basecamp for ground transportation means you’ll be on the road in no time.
Built from the ground up in 2021, 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 designed 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.
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 spacious, light-filled home for Southwest Airlines makes room for clusters of new restaurants and shops as well as imaginative work by contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto. It’s all thanks to the creativity and hustle of the 2,000 builders, makers and architects who brought the vision to life.
The entire project, at a glance
Sometimes you have to say goodbye to the old in order to welcome the new. In 2019, we tore down Concourse A in order to build Concourse B. Frank talk: We haven’t missed it.
Saying goodbye to A
In 2020, our team of local architects unveiled new designs for the airport’s main terminal. It’s spacious, flexible, and green, with plenty of Pacific Northwest character.
Look into the future
Hard hats on and sleeves rolled: In April 2021, we closed the Clocktower Plaza for good so that our crew of 1,250 pros could get to work bringing the new main terminal to life.
See how we’re building it
PDX's new Rental Car Center helps you get in and out of PDX faster without taking a shuttle from the terminal. On the floors above, we've added 2,200 more parking spaces.
Less traffic, more free time
To help you get in and out of PDX faster, we opened a new basecamp for car rentals and parking, complete with more close-in spots and flexibility for future modes of transit.
Less traffic, more free time
The bigger, daylight-filled Concourse B replaces Concourse A, adding more Oregon flavor in the form of new art, Good Coffee drinks, and Screen Door fried chicken.
See how we’re building it
Rideshare riders, rejoice: You’ll find your Lyft or Uber driver in the new dedicated pickup center. And if you work at PDX, new employee shuttles will make your commute even easier.
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.
Once we’ve finished the construction on the north and south ends of the main terminal, we’re making the last temporary walls and detours go away—for good—and bringing in nine more restaurants and shops.
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.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
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.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
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.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
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.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).
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.