kodijr

Horizon has a shuttle that runs from SEA to PDX and PDX to SEA every hour. I am wondering what would happen if they had 3 or 4 shuttle fights HIO to SEA and back. I am not saying taking away the SEA to PDX flights just adding 3 or 4 flights a day HIO. There are many people that live on the West side of Portland that would much rather leave from HIO then PDX, me being one of them.
Tell me what you think.

BLI-Flyer

Seriously? Do you think Horizon can fill 200 - 250 seats a day, every day, in both directions from an airport 31 miles from PDX? What other commercial flights are at HIO? Is there a commercial aviation terminal? Anything to potentially feed pax to QX? Face it, it's not going to happen.

By the way, QX is considering adding flights to PAE, 36 miles from SEA, but those flights will draw from a MUCH larger population area than flights from HIO would.

ChemDoctor

I'd love to see an HIO-SEA flight, as I live in Washington County and frequently take the PDX-SEA shuttle. I do not enjoy getting up at 4 a.m. to make it to the other side of Portland and through security at PDX. Hillsboro would be a way more convenient option for me. However, I don't think you could convince Horizon that HIO-SEA would be a moneymaker without dropping the equivalent number of PDX-SEA flights.

dliesse

The cost of getting Hillsboro certificated to commercial standard is probably prohibitive, as well. PAE already is at that level.

RASMguy

No plans for HIO. The PDX population base is not quite large enough to support this level of service without reducing flights from the regular Shuttle pattern. That could require going below hourly service, which we aren't willing to do. It's an interesting idea though and we did explore it when several years back for the Q200.

jackal

Of course, you could always take MAX to Union Station and take Amtrak:

1) Free 24-hour parking at Hillsboro Airport/Fair Complex MAX Park & Ride (or other P&Rs near Hillsboro)
2) MAX fare is 60% of the cost of gas to get to PDX (assuming 25 mpg and not including other incidental costs like wear-and-tear on vehicle)
3) 65-minute travel time on MAX, vs. 45 minutes driving to PDX with no traffic, BUT--
4) Can arrive at Union Station 10 minutes from departure and still be OK
5) Arrival into downtown Seattle (walking distance or a short (<10 minutes) bus/light-rail ride from most offices in downtown)
6) Amtrak tickets starting at $29 each way
7) No TSA!

Just sayin'...

Rifleman69

How about the amount of time you waste taking MAX and Amtrak?

jackal

Well, it's only a 20-minute difference to take MAX to Union Station versus driving to the airport, as I stated above...and that's with no traffic. In rush hour, you could easily even save time doing MAX over driving.

beckoa

How about ITO (not to drift too far OT... but similar airport code )

I understand the greater efficiencies of the Q400... but it seems its at a bit of a loss for the smaller PNW communities... Wish there was another A/C that could make up the difference, or a partnership... - well potentially M5 (Kenmore Air) will do this...

beckoa

What's the frequency of MAX & frequency of AMTRAK?

RASMguy

Amtrak: 4 a day on the Cascades with 1 freq on The Coast Starlight (much slower than the higher speed Cascades). Generally a good ride, although I have been on the Cascades when we hit a Freight train delay for about 45 minutes.

Horizon: about 22 a day w/ average flight time of 45 minutes...now with a direct light rail link from the airport to downtown SEA. You can now ride light rail from downtown PDX to PDX fly to SEA and ride light rail to downtown SEA. More expensive yes, but much lower than most other Shuttles operated around the country (like in the East). The Q400 is also a very green machine:

http://www.q400.com/q400/en/green.jsp

PDXPremier

It's funny someone started this thread cause this has been my wish for awhile...Hillsboro probably would have to do little to nothing in order to get "certificated for commercial service"...it looks and feels like a small commercial airport already...two major car rental companies (Avis and Hertz) are based at the terminal, hotel across the street, parking lot always packed with Intel and Nike employees taking their private shuttle flights multiple times a day...for a non-commercial airport, it's VERY busy with multiple prop and jet flights all day. Looking at it from a "population base" standpoint may be a bit short-sighted...you have two major international companies (Intel and Nike) based in Washington county not to mention the lessor known tech companies that populate what has become the silicon valley of the pacific northwest (solar world, as an example). Business travel is really what Hillsboro is all about and that is what I think could support Hillsboro air service in the future, maybe not a great fit for the Q400s of Horizon, but certainly a Skywest EMB120 (United Express service to SFO for example)...and to a lessor extent, SeaPort Air. Thanks for beating me to the punch by starting this thread!

BW Flyer

Wondering if the Q400 is greener than an amtrak train per pax, assuming same distance of travel ??

Rifleman69

So everyone lives near a MAX station in your world. Gotcha!

maokh

It depends a lot on load.

There's an interesting number of 2100 BTU per amtrak passenger mile per amtrak.

Aircraft, per wikipedia, consumes 3,261 BTU per passenger mile -- however -- i suspect this is heavily weighted in jet aircraft, possibly even large jet aircraft. A turboprop should be much lower i think.

in either case, economics seem to point the Q400 runs as green to be profitable in some fashion, which means they have to be "green" if 26 passengers can pay for fuel and crew.

EDIT: according to http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006...s_flying_1.php a Q400 is around 2591 ...