Frank Abagnale
Active member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2003
- Posts
- 28
From Vancouver Business Journal
9-26-03
[PORTLAND, Ore. – Officials from Northwest Airlines paid a visit to Portland this week, a positive sign that efforts to re-establish direct flights to Asia from the Portland-Vancouver business community’s main airport may be moving forward.
The visit was “a chance to introduce the Northwest executives to some of the business leaders in our region,” said Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport, or PDX.
Although Northwest had made no commitment, “we see the meeting as a positive development,” Johnson said.
Port officials and members of the Portland Business Alliance hope assurances from regional corporations will convince Northwest, the world’s fourth-largest airline, to establish nonstop flights from PDX to Tokyo Narita, Northwest’s hub in Japan.
Johnson said a number of local businesses have expressed interest in direct flights to Asia, although he did not have an official tally of companies interested in pledging upfront business travel commitments.
“We believe there are more than 100 Japanese-affiliated companies located in this region and 700 regional companies involved in trade in Asia,” Johnson said.
Although individual companies will have to decide for themselves, high-tech companies in Southwest Washington would likely support re-establishing direct flights from Portland to Asia, said John Marck, president of Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas in Vancouver and president of the High Tech Community Council in Clark County.
Marck said several Vancouver-area companies like Sharp, which is headquartered in Osaka, Japan, would have to weigh the convenience factors of Northwest’s additional connections to Southeast Asia.
“A lot of our customers’ production – and in many cases, our own production – has moved to Southeast Asia, so that would be a major interest,” Marck said.
If Northwest opts to add nonstop service to Japan, it won’t be the first time the Port of Portland has had success in expanding international flights.
The port added intercontinental service between Portland and Frankfurt, Germany, in April, enticing Lufthansa German Airlines with $10.8 million in prepaid travel pledges and commitments from 26 metro-area companies.
The arrangement with Lufthansa encouraged port officials to step up efforts to reopen the Asian gateway, said Johnson, who added that port representatives met with Northwest executives in early August at the air carrier’s headquarters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-metro area.
“We’ve had ongoing dialogue since that time,” Johnson said. “In preparation for this (Portland) meeting, we’ve asked the business community, through various organizations like the Portland Business Alliance, to provide some best-faith estimates of advance air service commitments.”
A spokesman from Northwest said he couldn’t speculate on the carrier’s plans.
“We have met with representatives of the Portland Business Alliance attempting to attract new international service to the Rose City, and we will consider their proposal,” said Kurt Ebenhoch, Northwest Airlines spokesman.
Ebenhoch said Northwest serves a network of 14 Asian cities, a scaled-back version of the carrier’s schedule from two years ago.
“Our traffic and capacity is down, and we have not launched any new trans-Pacific flights this year,” Ebenhoch said.
A direct Asian route would fill a crucial service gap left when Delta Air Lines suspended the Portland area’s only nonstop service linking PDX and Japan in April 2001. At the time, Delta officials said the region did not generate enough bookings to profit from continuing two daily roundtrip flights between Portland and Japan.
Port officials immediately went to work trying to replace the intercontinental service, which generated an estimated $934 million in regional economic impacts, according to a study conducted by Philadelphia firm Martin Associates. The study estimated Delta’s decision affected about 15,000 direct and indirect airport positions, spin-off service jobs and tourism-industry jobs in the Portland-Vancouver area.
“We have had conversations with virtually every air carrier, both domestic and foreign, that is capable of providing that kind of service,” Johnson said.]
Does this have anything to do with the reductions in MEM?
I have heard NWA is looking for a new Airlink or feeder, is that possible?
9-26-03
[PORTLAND, Ore. – Officials from Northwest Airlines paid a visit to Portland this week, a positive sign that efforts to re-establish direct flights to Asia from the Portland-Vancouver business community’s main airport may be moving forward.
The visit was “a chance to introduce the Northwest executives to some of the business leaders in our region,” said Steve Johnson, spokesman for the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport, or PDX.
Although Northwest had made no commitment, “we see the meeting as a positive development,” Johnson said.
Port officials and members of the Portland Business Alliance hope assurances from regional corporations will convince Northwest, the world’s fourth-largest airline, to establish nonstop flights from PDX to Tokyo Narita, Northwest’s hub in Japan.
Johnson said a number of local businesses have expressed interest in direct flights to Asia, although he did not have an official tally of companies interested in pledging upfront business travel commitments.
“We believe there are more than 100 Japanese-affiliated companies located in this region and 700 regional companies involved in trade in Asia,” Johnson said.
Although individual companies will have to decide for themselves, high-tech companies in Southwest Washington would likely support re-establishing direct flights from Portland to Asia, said John Marck, president of Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas in Vancouver and president of the High Tech Community Council in Clark County.
Marck said several Vancouver-area companies like Sharp, which is headquartered in Osaka, Japan, would have to weigh the convenience factors of Northwest’s additional connections to Southeast Asia.
“A lot of our customers’ production – and in many cases, our own production – has moved to Southeast Asia, so that would be a major interest,” Marck said.
If Northwest opts to add nonstop service to Japan, it won’t be the first time the Port of Portland has had success in expanding international flights.
The port added intercontinental service between Portland and Frankfurt, Germany, in April, enticing Lufthansa German Airlines with $10.8 million in prepaid travel pledges and commitments from 26 metro-area companies.
The arrangement with Lufthansa encouraged port officials to step up efforts to reopen the Asian gateway, said Johnson, who added that port representatives met with Northwest executives in early August at the air carrier’s headquarters in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-metro area.
“We’ve had ongoing dialogue since that time,” Johnson said. “In preparation for this (Portland) meeting, we’ve asked the business community, through various organizations like the Portland Business Alliance, to provide some best-faith estimates of advance air service commitments.”
A spokesman from Northwest said he couldn’t speculate on the carrier’s plans.
“We have met with representatives of the Portland Business Alliance attempting to attract new international service to the Rose City, and we will consider their proposal,” said Kurt Ebenhoch, Northwest Airlines spokesman.
Ebenhoch said Northwest serves a network of 14 Asian cities, a scaled-back version of the carrier’s schedule from two years ago.
“Our traffic and capacity is down, and we have not launched any new trans-Pacific flights this year,” Ebenhoch said.
A direct Asian route would fill a crucial service gap left when Delta Air Lines suspended the Portland area’s only nonstop service linking PDX and Japan in April 2001. At the time, Delta officials said the region did not generate enough bookings to profit from continuing two daily roundtrip flights between Portland and Japan.
Port officials immediately went to work trying to replace the intercontinental service, which generated an estimated $934 million in regional economic impacts, according to a study conducted by Philadelphia firm Martin Associates. The study estimated Delta’s decision affected about 15,000 direct and indirect airport positions, spin-off service jobs and tourism-industry jobs in the Portland-Vancouver area.
“We have had conversations with virtually every air carrier, both domestic and foreign, that is capable of providing that kind of service,” Johnson said.]
Does this have anything to do with the reductions in MEM?
I have heard NWA is looking for a new Airlink or feeder, is that possible?
