Due to challenges in the overall Northwest U.S. business sector, Portland, Ore.-area FBOs serving corporate aviation clients have structured their operations to attract clients from a greater radius. Competing with the Seattle market and incorporating global perspectives, the major corporate aviation FBOs have either recently undertaken or are planning to take bold steps to ensure their survival in a state that still measures one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S. and a faltering economy.
Portland is served by Portland International Airport (PDX), located on the southern shore of the Columbia River, and Portland-Hillsboro Airport (HIO), located 15 mi southwest of downtown. Two smaller airports, Troutdale Airport (TTD) and Mulino (4S9), receive some light jet and turboprop traffic, but are generally too far away from the city’s downtown and high-tech centers to be practical for corporate operators. Thus the only two real FBOs catering to corporate aviation–Flightcraft at PDX and Aero Air at HIO–have carved out individual niches and coexist well in an area seeing a depressed business aviation climate compared with a decade ago. A third FBO, Hillsboro Aviation, serves as the largest rotorcraft corporate charter provider in the area.
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