Hot off the heals of British Airway's long-awaited inaugural service last week, I returned to PDX to catch what was supposed to be the return of Air Canada's mainline service with summer seasonal flights to/from Toronto. To recap, Air Canada brought back mainline service between Portland and Toronto during the 2016 summer season utilizing their Embraer E-190 fleet. Starting in 2019, Air Canada transferred the Portland-Toronto route to their low-cost subsidiary, Air Canada Rouge due to the mainline division needing their E-190s elsewhere due to the worldwide 737 MAX groundings; the summer-seasonal service was also late in getting started in 2019 as well. The Rouge flights were short-lived however as the pandemic in 2020 impacted aviation and air travel everywhere. Air Canada also retired their E-190 fleet during the pandemic as well. Come 2021, Air Canada was supposedly in the process of reinstating flights between Toronto and PDX throughout the year, but kept pushing it back due to everchanging government restrictions and policies. In short, flights never resumed in 2021.
And then earlier this year, Air Canada announced they'd be returning their mainline service to PDX with weekly, summer seasonal flights, this time with the Airbus A220-300s! With the 737 MAX now back in service and with plenty of A220-300s as well as easing government restrictions, Air Canada was resuming flights to PDX starting today with the inaugural arrival from Toronto with the return flight tomorrow morning (like they have been doing prior to the pandemic). Unfortunately for me, the inbound flight was late departing Toronto and wouldn't arrive until well-after sunset. And as it turns out, Toronto Pearson International Airport as well as Air Canada have been dealing with staffing issues, which has been a byproduct of the pandemic due to the pent-up travel demand and the faster-than-expected recovery; in fact, people are saying Toronto is one of the worst airports to travel through in North America right now!
So, while I was unable to photograph my main objective on this spotting trip, it wasn't a complete waste of time as I was pleased to see other worthwhile things including several special liveries by Alaska Airlines, cargo heavies utilizing the north runway (which is a rather uncommon sight!), a pair of Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100s (a fine consolation to get my A220 fix in!), seeing another British Airways 787-8 Dreamliner, and an Icelandair 757-200.
Portland (PDX)
Preview:
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| AirPac Airlines Cessna 208B Grand Caravan (N863MA) taxiing to the FBO to park overnight after dropping off cargo over by the FedEx ramp. Arrived earlier in the evening as APC1973 from Eugene. |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Embraer ERJ-170-200LR E-175LR (N651QX) "Honoring Those Who Serve" arriving on 28R as QXE2112 from Ontario. I'm thrilled to catch this livery on Alaska's E-175! |
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| This was the last E-175 airframe delivered to Horizon Air and the Alaska Air Group did say they would paint it in a special livery! This is ideal because Alaska Airlines uses the the planes in this livery specifically for military honor flights and the E-175 allows them to do honor flights into places where their 737s wouldn't be able to fly into. |
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| This is the only E-175 in Horizon Air's fleet to have a special livery. |
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| Only HTWS livery I haven't photographed is the 737-800 operated by the mainline division. |
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| Air Transport International - ATI (d/b/a Amazon Air) Boeing 767-381/ER/BCF (N431AZ) taxiing for departure as ATN3313 for Anchorage. |
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| Sun Country Airlines Boeing 737-8KN (N832SY) taxiing for departure as SCX294 for Minneapolis/St. Paul. |
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| Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-990/ER (N224AK) arriving on 28R as ASA518 from San Diego |
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| United Airlines Boeing 737-824 (N76288) arriving on 28R as UAL473 from Denver. |
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| ATN3313 departing on 28R for Anchorage. It's always neat to see cargo heavies uses the north runway! |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N851VA) arriving on 28R as ASA371 from Los Angeles. |
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| SCX294 departing on 28R for Minneapolis/St. Paul. |
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| Ameriflight Beechcraft 1900C (N3229A) arriving on 28R as AMF1909 from Medford. |
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| Boutique Air Pilatus PC-12/47 (N95GE) airborne off 28R as BTQ356 for Pendleton. |
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| Horizon Air (d/b/a Alaska Airlines) Bombardier DHC-8-402 Dash 8 Q400 (N435QX) in the University of Washington Huskies livery taxiing for departure as QXE2016 for Sacramento |
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| Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-932/ER (N906DN) arriving on 28R as DAL509 from Atlanta. |
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| QXE2016 making an intersection departure on 28R for Sacramento. Must be a light load for them to do an intersection departure! |
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| Kalitta Air (d/b/a DHL Aviation) Boeing 767-3P6/ER/BCF (N762CK) taxiing for departure as CKS404 for Cincinnati via Seattle/Tacoma. Glad I was able to catch another one of these Kalitta/DHL hybrids! |
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| Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100 (N125DU) taxiing for departure as DAL2947 for Los Angeles. My second time seeing a Delta A220! |
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| Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100 (N108DQ) arriving on 28R as DAL999 from Los Angeles. My third A220. As one departs for LAX, another arrives from LAX! It seems that the route between Portland and Los Angeles commonly sees the Delta A220s utilized. |
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| DAL999 vacating 28R and taxiing to the gate. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-76N (N7731A) arriving on 28R as SWA2326 from Denver. |
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| SWA2326 taxiing to the gate. |
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| FedEx Express McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N606FE) taxiing for departure as FDX1216 for Memphis. |
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| Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-7H4 (N454WN) airborne off 28R as SWA1724 for Sacramento. |
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| Ameriflight Beechcraft C99 Airliner (N223BH) taxiing to the cargo ramp after arriving on 28R as AMF1925 from Eugene. |
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| CKS404 airborne off 28R for Seattle/Tacoma before continuing on to Cincinnati. |
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| Not much time left to see Kalitta's 767s operating on the behalf of DHL. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N844VA) arriving on 28R as ASA1375 from Minneapolis/St. Paul. |
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| DAL2947 airborne off 28R for Los Angeles. |
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| FDX1216 airborne off 28R for Memphis. |
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| American Airlines Airbus A321-211 (N181UW) arriving on 28R as AAL2433 from Dallas-Fort Worth. |
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| UPS Airlines Boeing 767-34AF/ER (N322UP) taxiing for departure as UPS973 for Louisville. |
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| UPS Airlines Airbus A300F4-622R (N142UP) taxiing for departure as UPS971 for Chicago/Rockford. |
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| UPS973 airborne off 28R for Louisville. |
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| UPS971 airborne off 28R for Chicago/Rockford. |
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| Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-214 (N854VA) "Fly with Pride" arriving on 28R as ASA583 from Santa Ana. |
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| My first time photographing an Alaska A320 in a special livery. |
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| Alaska Airlines adorned this airframe with the stickers seen here a year ago in conjunction with Pride month, which of course is them month of June. |
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| A gesture of inclusivity in the company as well as towards society in promoting LGBT rights, a hot topic social issue for many years. |
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| ASA583 clearing 28R and taxiing to the gate. |
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| And because this is a hot topic social issue, it's only natural that there's probably mixed feelings about this livery. |
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| Even so, it's admirable that the Alaska Air Group is being inclusive and respectful. |
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| I'm personally not a fan of this special livery in particular, but it's a special livery nonetheless. |
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| British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (G-ZBJF) taxiing for departure as BAW266 for London Heathrow. Second time seeing BA and the 787-8, this time in better weather conditions! |
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| As it turns out, construction of new 787s are suspended right now due to quality control issues at Boeing. |
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| Boeing consolidated their 787 production out of Everett, Washington and into Charleston, South Carolina and needless to say, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. |
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| Boeing has had a bad couple of years due to the 737 MAX debacle, 787 production issues, and delays to their new 777-X program. |
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| BAW266 departing on 28R for London Heathrow. |
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| The ongoing production issues of the 787 program thankfully hasn't affected ones already delivered currently in operation, so we can still get sights like this. |
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| British Airway should do fairly well in PDX with fellow OneWorld alliance member Alaska Airlines providing connecting passengers to feed their flights. |
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| I still have to pinch myself a little when seeing a 787 at PDX! |
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| On the other hand, BA's oldest 787s are nearly 10 years old now. And the downside to the Euro-white paint on the fuselage really shows how worn and dirty some of their planes really are. |
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| I still like how the sun is glinting off the fuselage as the Dreamliner gains altitude. |
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| Flying off into the sunset with some wing flex! |
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| Icelandair Boeing 757-208 (TF-FIV) "Katla" getting towed to the remote stands for the overnight stay. Arrived earlier this evening as ICE665 from Reykjavik-Keflavik. Glad to see the Icelandair 757 back! |
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| Icelandair was the only European carrier to resume flights to Portland all last year and even briefly switched to the 737 MAX towards the end of their seasonal services last year. For 2022, they brought their 757s back as of May 11! Scheduled to return to Keflavik tomorrow afternoon as ICE664. |
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| Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-271N (N942NK) arriving on 28R as NKS1588 from Las Vegas. |
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| NetJets Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign (N377QS) airborne off 28R as EJA377 for Las Vegas. |
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| UPS Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-11F (N263UP) taxiing for departure as UPS975 for Ontario. |
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| UPS975 airborne off 28R for Ontario. |
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| Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 (N915AK) in the Seattle Kraken livery arriving on 28R as ASA690 from Seattle/Tacoma. |
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| The Seattle Krakens is a new expansion franchise of the NHL founded in 2021. |
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| Naturally, being based in Seattle, it would make sense for Alaska Airlines to promote and sponsor a Seattle-based professional sports team! |
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| As such, the Seattle Kraken is newest ice hockey team after the Las Vegas Golden Knights. |
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| The Kraken's first season took place during the 2021-2022 winter season. |
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| The Kraken team colors certainly compliments Alaska Airlines' current livery! |
