PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland International Airport's expanded Concourse B will make its official debut Wednesday morning, when the first flights are scheduled to depart from the new terminal.
The Port of Portland and Alaska Airlines are scheduled to hold an opening ceremony on Wednesday, according to a press release from the Port of Portland. Portland Timbers mascot Timber Joey will be on hand to meet with passengers and hand out special edition newspapers commemorating the project.
The original version of Concourse B had just two gates. The expansion project extended the terminal southward into the space formerly occupied by now-demolished Concourse A, adding six more B gates and two new commercial spaces, which will be filled by Portland mainstays Good Coffee and Screen Door.
The expanded terminal wing is the latest completed entry in an ongoing $2 billion series of renovation projects collectively titled PDX NEXT, which began with the opening of Concourse E on the east side of the airport in July 2020. The E gates serve Southwest Airlines, while the new B gates will serve Alaska Airlines.
The next big project is an expanded and upgraded main terminal, complete with a new all-wood roof, set to debut in 2025. Construction is already underway in the main terminal, and the new roof is taking shape at an outdoor assembly yard at the western end of the airport campus.
It will be moved into place over the terminal in segments, a process which is scheduled to begin in mid-2022. The new roof is part of an effort to make the airport more seismically resilient in preparation for a major earthquake.
PDX NEXT also includes a new parking garage and car rental facility, which opened last month, and it coincides with TriMet's A Better Red project, which will renovate the airport MAX station and add a second track on the approach so inbound and outbound Red Line trains will no longer have to take turns.