How Are the Paine Field (PAE) Flights? Will Mainline AS Ever Fly There?
 

The title says it all.

In one word, awesome. Just flew PDX-PAE-PDX yesterday. The terminal is pretty much full from 11:00-3:00 when most of the midday flights leave and the whole thing has a lounge like feel. My flights had super light loads (<20 people), however my Lyft driver said he heard that there were plans for expansion (terminal expansion + bigger planes). No way of knowing where he heard this. If they do grow in popularity, they will have to expand as the current terminal, while very nice, is quite small.

Then the gate area is too small. The gate area should have seating for 350 people, which is 175 per gate. If the plane is a 737-900ER and completely full, the rest of the passengers may be in the rest room or restaurant or standing. As far as the inbound passengers, they can walk from the gate to baggage claim without stopping or stopping only in the rest room.

I wonder if there's insufficient rest room space. I read that there are not stalls but individual rooms with a toilet and a sink. That is not space efficient because if you are pooping, the door will be locked.

I would imagine that if there are only 24 permitted flights per day, eventually, they will all be 737-800/900/900ER or equivalent if allowed.

Flew out of PAE for the first time yesterday, and I was very impressed. Already looking at moving some of my trips later this year from SEA to PAE.

Max occupancy isn't designated by how many seats are available, but by using a number of factors that are loosely based on square footage, to put it simply.

The terminal currently has seating for 325 in the 2 gate areas, in addition to the bar/restaurant areas.

This is a regional airport, much like Sonoma (STS) is to SFO. It has beautiful jet bridges and is certainly built to accommodate mainline jets, but for the time being, it doesn't have the demand to warrant it.

Paine Field is awesome, partly because I can drive to it in less than 15 minutes, but also because it has that regional airport feel, is brand new and is just overall very nice. I have moved all my flights there (I mostly fly to CA), and would even consider starting an international flight there and doing a layover in SFO than flying out of SEATAC. In fact, I am flying to Hong King next month using that strategy.
As far as expansion, I think it will come but will be a while. I've heard rumors from multiple sources that Alaska plans to expand, but I'm sure that will be based on demand and the willingness of the local community.

Also ... Alaska has a small fleet of A319s that could easily slip onto some of the SFO & LAX turns ... giving a few more incremental seats as they grow the market.

Going straight from an E75 to a 738 is a big jump; luckily there are a few more incremental steps available in the fleet.

PAE is amazing; I echo the sentiments of others. I grew up in Everett, currently live in the Bay Area. My family lives 10 mins from PAE, so it's super convenient for me to fly to and see my family. I had a mid-afternoon, weekday flight last month and no one was in line for TSA. Also, there was still tons of seating in the terminal and the flight to SJC wasn't even half full. It will be interesting to see how much busier it will get. I'll be flying in/out of PAE again in May and July, so I'm also excited to see more of the dining options open.

I have had several flights out of and back to PAE recently, all were great. It does take a bit for the Lyft/Uber drivers to get to you as their holding area is well offsite, but you can wait inside the last building adjacent to the ride share pickup point. Alaska even treated PAE as a co-terminal with SEA from PDX the other night when there was a 1 hr 22 min ATC delay. They called for anyone that could fly to PAE instead of SEA that wanted to get out quickly (I did!) even taking those that had checked bags. (they pulled the checked bags and moved them to the PAE flight) With the new Hwy 99 tunnel getting to and from SEA is really quick for me, but so is PAE, so it is a great option when on flights using the E175s.

I saw an ad that San Juan Airlines will be flying out of PAE. Great idea! You can then connect to drop right into the island or for those residents to be able to more easily get to the outside world!

The fact that PAE is small is quite deliberate. The airport is owned by Snohomish County, and many surrounding communities in Snohomish County (and the people living there) don't want a full-scale commercial airport and sued to prevent this from happening. The FAA told Snohomish County that because FAA funds were used, they can't prohibit commercial use of the airport, but there is no specific size they have to make the terminal for commercial service. Thus PAE is fully intended to remain small and not expand over time.

Slightly off the subject but was looking for flight option between ORD and SEA and got a few crazy PAE options.
ORD-SEA-PDX-PAE.

I'm surprised flying to PAE was an option when one of your flight takes you already to Seattle.

Jiburi