Alaska Airlines Builds Oregon Connections, Adding Portland-Houston Route

Alaska Airlines plans to buttress service at Oregon airports, highlighted by a new nonstop route between Portland and Houston.

Portland International Airport (PDX) serves as a hub for Seattle-based Alaska, which operates around 100 daily flights to 58 destinations from the airport. From May 15, the carrier will launch daily Boeing 737 flights between PDX and Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

Alaska will compete against United Airlines on the PDX-IAH route. The carrier says IAH is its largest unserved destination from Portland.

Houston becomes the third Texas city served by Alaska from PDX. The airline already operates to Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin from the airport.

Also on the same date, the airline will start serving Eugene, Oregon, from PDX. The 2X-daily Embraer 175 route will connect two Oregon cities located around 125 mi. apart. “There’s a 5:30 a.m. departure from Eugene that can be paired with a 9:55 p.m. return flight that allows for a full day in Portland without staying the night,” Alaska says in a statement.

Additionally, from May 15, the airline will open daily service between Medford, Oregon, and San Diego. It will be the 41st route Alaska operates from the southern California airport.

Also on May 15, Alaska plans to increase frequencies between PDX and Medford from 1X-daily to 4X-daily.