I haven't been spotting at PDX since January! Honestly, between flight training, crappy weather, and the current semester of online classes (the last ones I'll have to take!) for school, I haven't had much desire to get a big spotting trip in; plus, my last spotting trip at PDX back in January was a little disappointing as there wasn't a lot of worthwhile things to see. Thankfully, today was a different story!
For starters, I noticed late last night on FlightRadar24 that Delta Air Lines was sending in one of their Boeing 767-400/ERs on a domestic flight from Atlanta. This was a big deal to me and this alone was worth making the trip as I've never seen the longest variant of the 767 before, considering that it's a rather rare aircraft type with only 37 examples ever built (Delta and United are the only airline operators, while an additional airframe currently serves as a high-profile VIP capacity). I was also after another retro livery, this time adorned on one of Horizon Air's (their first one!) Dash 8s. I also finally got to photograph one of Atlas Air's 767 freighters operating for e-commerce giant Amazon, along with a few other notable sightings.
I'm also excited to do a few spotting trips to PDX in the very-near future because we have some new airlines starting up services and I intend to go out and photograph the inaugural flights. At the end of April, Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet (essentially the Canada's version of Southwest Airlines!) via regional subsidiary WestJet Encore will begin flying their turboprops between Portland and Calgary, essentially adding competition with Air Canada, which has been the sole carrier operating this route for the longest time. Air Canada will also be resuming daily flights between Portland and Toronto towards the end of May, but operations will be transferring over from mainline E-190s to Airbus A319s under the Air Canada Rouge low-cost subsidiary; there's also speculation that the route between Portland and Toronto will go from daily summer-seasonal to daily year-round, but has yet to be officially confirmed.
Portland (PDX) 40
Preview:
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| Compass Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N204NN) departing on 28L as CPZ6088 for Los Angeles. |
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| NetJets Cessna 680A Citation Latitude (N541QS) taxiing to the FBO after arriving on 28R as EJA541 from Denver-Rocky Mountain Metropolitan. |
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| Delta Air Lines Airbus A330-323 (N802NW) arriving on 28R as DAL179 from Amsterdam. As of today, the daily Delta flight between PDX and Amsterdam goes back to A330s for the spring and summer. |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 767-432/ER (N832MH) arriving on 28R as DAL607 from Atlanta. My first time seeing the longest variant of the Boeing 767 family and I am beyond excited! Delta and United are the only two airlines to operate the type. |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N386DA) taxiing for departure as DAL808 for Seattle-Tacoma. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N424WN) airborne off 28R as SWA4239 for Sacramento. |
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| United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N488UA) airborne off 28R as UAL353 for San Francisco. |
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| Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990 (N317AS) taxiing for departure as ASA391 for San Francisco. |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N3753) taxiing for departure as DAL2510 for Minneapolis/St. Paul. |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-401 Dash 8 Q400 (N400QX) in the University of Idaho Vandals livery operating as QXE2536 arriving on 28L. This flight was supposed to be headed for Vancouver, but ended up returning to Portland. After touching down, fire trucks followed the plane on the runway, so it must have been enough to warrant an emergency response. After disembarking passengers, this aircraft was towed over to the Horizon Air maintenance facilities. |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N635QX) beginning taxi for departure as QXE2066 for Dallas-Love. |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N446QX) arriving on 28L as QXE2618 from Sacramento. |
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| SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N402SY) departing on 28L as SKW3462 for Burbank. |
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| Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N493AS) "More to Love" taxiing for departure as ASA572 for San Diego. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N848VA) taxiing for departure as ASA1554 for Austin-Bergstrom. Formerly Virgin America's "bellapierre." Not many Virgin America liveries still lingering... |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N421QX) bearing Horizon's retro livery making an intersection departure on 28L as QXE9989 on a re-positioning flight to Seattle-Tacoma. Thrilled to catch the first ever retro livery for Horizon! |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N401QX) in the Washington State University Cougars livery departing on 28L as QXE2325 for Redmond. |
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| ASA572 departing on 28L for San Diego. |
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| ASA1554 departing on 28L for Austin. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-752 (N7888A) departing on 28L as SWA2959 for Oakland. Formerly XA-CYM with AeroMexico. |
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| SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N194SY) arriving on 28L as SKW3381 from San Jose. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A321-253N (N927VA) "More to Love" arriving on 28L as ASA1791 from Los Angeles. One of two A321 neos currently in this livery, I've now seen all three planes currently sporting the "More to Love" livery in Alaska Airlines' fleet! |
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| SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N196SY) departing on 28L as SKW3482 for Salt Lake City. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-76N (B7701B) departing on 28L as SWA3084 for San Jose. Formerly N149AT with AirTran Airways. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N284VA) arriving on 28L as ASA1110 from Las Vegas. Formerly Virgin America's "Rabid Badger." |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 717-231 (N934AT) airborne off 28R as DAL68 for Los Angeles. |
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| SkyWest Airlines (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N191SY) arriving on 28L as SKW3457 from Burbank. |
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| American Airlines Airbus A321-231 (N164NN) departing on 28L as AAL1316 for Dallas/Fort Worth. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N846VA) arriving on 28L as ASA1404 from Seattle-Tacoma. Formerly Virgin America's "glitter girl." |
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| Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-890 (N520AS) departing on 28L as ASA580 for Santa Ana. Surprised to see that there are still 737s in the old colors! |
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| Compass Airlines (d/b/a American Eagle) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N210NN) departing on 28L as CPZ6033 for Los Angeles. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 (N8513F) departing on 28L as SWA3885 for Burbank. |
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| Frontier Airlines Airbus A321-211 (N706FR) "Max the Lynx" arriving on 28R as FFT791 from Denver. |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-832 (N3754A) arriving on 28R as DAL2515 from Minneapolis/St. Paul. |
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| United Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N429UA) airborne off 28R as UAL1888 for Houston Intercontinental. |
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| Beechcraft/Raytheon B300 King Air 350 (N350GL) taxiing in after arriving on 28R. |
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| American Airlines Boeing 737-823 (N976AN) arriving on 28L as AAL1437 from Phoenix/Sky Harbor. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N788SA) arriving on 28L as SWA5277 from Oakland. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N640VA) arriving on 28L as ASA1057 from Palm Springs. Formerly Virgin America's "refresh air." |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N623QX) arriving on 28L as QXE2015 from Ontario. |
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| Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8Q8 (N813SY) "Lake Winona" arriving on 28R as SCX8682 from Spokane. Flight number clearly indicates this as either a charter or re-positioning flight. Also a rare look at a 737-800 with no winglets! |
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| Icelandair Boeing 757-223 (TF-ISF) "Laki" getting towed to the gate from the remote ramp in preparation for departure back to Reykjavik-Keflavik as ICE664. Made an overnight stay in PDX after arriving as ICE665 yesterday evening. "Laki" is named after a volcanic fissure and mountain in southern Iceland, where the largest lava eruption in recorded history began on June 8, 1783. Formerly N637AM with American Airlines. |
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| SCX8682 taxiing (much to my surprise!) to the FBO, meaning this must in for a sports charter as it was later scheduled to depart as SCX8633 to Columbus-Golden Triangle. |
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| N927VA departing on 28L as ASA1505 for Palm Springs. I'm hoping to catch one of three A321 neos still in the old Virgin America livery before they inevitably get re-painted! |
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| Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8F2 (N829SY) arriving on 28L as SCX684 from Las Vegas. Only my second time seeing the moderately-updated Sun Country livery. Since then Sun Country released a brand new livery that will soon be adorned on all their planes. |
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| Compass Airlines (d/b/a Delta Connection) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N613CZ) taxiing for departure as CPZ5753 for Seattle-Tacoma. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7BD (N555LV) arriving on 28R as SWA4875 from Burbank. |
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| United Airlines Airbus A319-131 (N823UA) clearing 28R after arriving as UAL2166 from San Francisco. |
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| N832MH taxiing for departure as DAL608 back to Atlanta. Delta's 767-400s occasionally makes appearances in Portland, but otherwise focuses on transatlantic routes to Europe from their east coast hubs. |
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| Atlas Air (d/b/a Amazon Prime Air) Boeing 767-36N/ER BDSF (N1049A) arriving on 28L as GTI3508 from Windsor Locks/Bradley International. Only my second time seeing the Amazon livery, but my first time seeing it on an Atlas Air-operated aircraft. |
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| DAL608 airborne off 28R for Atlanta. Glad to photograph this rare variant of the 767 when I did! |
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| Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-232 (N694NK) arriving on 28L as NKS260 from Las Vegas. |
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| N829SY departing on 28L as SCX691 for Palm Springs. Since last seeing them in PDX, Sun Country has established Portland as a seasonal focus city, offering year-round service to Honolulu, Las Vegas, and San Francisco in addition to their Minneapolis hub. They have also begun seasonal service to Orlando, Palm Springs, and Phoenix, with flights to Nashville, San Antonio, and St. Louis slated to begin later this summer. |
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| N421QX, the Horizon retro returning back on 28L as QXE2175 from Seattle-Tacoma, this time on a revenue flight! |
