Eastern Oregon Regional Airport (Eastern Oregon Regional Airport at Pendleton) is a public airport three miles northwest of Pendleton, in

Umatilla County, Oregon Umatilla County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 80,075. Hermiston is the largest city in Umatilla County, but Pendleton remains the county seat. Umatilla County is part of ...

, United States. Commercial service is provided by

Boutique Air Boutique Air, Inc. is a commuter airline based in San Francisco, California. The airline offers charter services as well as scheduled passenger services subsidized under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Boutique operates the second lar ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, subsidized by the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintained commercial service. Its aim is to ...

program. According to the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, the airport had 7,217 passenger boardings in

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any ...

2008, 3,828 in 2009, 4,898 in 2010 and 4,305 in 2015. The

National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems (NPIAS) is an inventory of U.S. aviation infrastructure assets. NPIAS was developed and now maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It identifies existing and proposed airports tha ...

for 2011–2015

categorized Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by associating them to a ...

it as a ''non-primary commercial service'' airport (between 2,500 and 10,000 enplanements per year).

Facilities

Eastern Oregon Regional Airport covers 2,273

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

s (920 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of 1,497 feet (456 m). It has two

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

s: 8/26 is 6,301 by 150 feet (1,921 x 46 m); 11/29 is 5,582 by 100 feet (1,701 x 30 m). In 2010 the airport had 19,885 aircraft operations, average 54 per day: 77%

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation service ...

, 17%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, and 6% military. 46 aircraft were then based at the airport: 46% single-engine, 2% multi-engine, 22%

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

, 7% glider, 9%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

, and 15% military.

Historical airline service

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

served Pendleton from the 1930s until 1981. Jet service appeared in 1968; United

Boeing 727-100 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpor ...

s and

737-200 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

s flew nonstop mainly to Portland and

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ...

. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, United flew direct, no change of plane 727 service to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and Newark or

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

(DCA). In 1969 United 727-100s flew eastbound Portland - Pendleton - Boise - Salt Lake City -

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

O'Hare Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop business ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California *Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County *Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Taz ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

/ Easton -

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Newark Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Cou ...

and westbound

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

- Salt Lake City - Boise - Pendleton - Portland in addition to flying daily Boeing 737-200 service with a round trip routing of Pendleton - Portland -

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

- Medford -

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

( SFO) for a total of three jet departures a day. According to the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight ...

(OAG), by the spring of 1981 United was operating two daily

Boeing 727-200 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airp ...

flights serving Pendleton with an eastbound routing of San Francisco (SFO) - Portland - Pendleton - Salt Lake City - Denver -

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and a westbound routing of

Providence, RI Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

- Chicago O'Hare Airport - Salt Lake City - Pendleton - Portland - San Francisco (SFO). All United mainline jet service ended on May 22, 1981. Earlier in the 1960s United

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

DC-7 The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

s and

Convair 340 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s served Pendleton. In 1966 the airport was stop on a daily flight between Washington state and Oklahoma jointly operated by United and

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started ...

as an interchange service with a

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with t ...

flying Seattle - Portland - Pendleton - Boise - Salt Lake City - Denver -

Wichita Wichita ( ) may refer to: People *Wichita people, a Native American tribe *Wichita language, the language of the tribe Places in the United States * Wichita, Kansas, a city * Wichita County, Kansas, a county in western Kansas (city of Wichita i ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

while United was also operating twice daily round trip Portland - Pendleton -

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

DC-6 service. The airport was also served by two commuter airlines, the first being Cascade Airways from 1977 through 1978 with flights to Boise and Spokane using

Beechcraft Model 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier Be ...

airliners. Portland-based

Air Oregon Air Oregon was founded as Executive Flight Services in 1961 in Portland, Oregon; was renamed to Air Oregon in 1977. In June 1982, Air Oregon was acquired and merged into Horizon Air which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group wh ...

then served Pendleton from 1978 through 1982 using

Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swearingen Aircraft and later by Fairchild Aircraft at a plant in Sa ...

commuter propjets with nonstop flights to Portland and Boise as well as to other smaller cities in Oregon which were served with small

Piper Navajo The Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engined aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also license-built in a number of Latin American countries. Ta ...

prop aircraft. In 1981, Air Oregon was operating up to four nonstop flights a day to Portland with Metroliner aircraft before being acquired by Horizon Air later that same year. Beginning in 1982, regional air carrier

Horizon Air Horizon Air Industries, Inc., operating as Horizon Air, is an American regional airline based in SeaTac, Washington, United States. Horizon Air and its sister carrier Alaska Airlines are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group, and all Horizon-ope ...

, now a subsidiary of

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the nu ...

, flew

s followed by

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the stan ...

s and

de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

s to Portland before ending service to Pendleton in 2008. Horizon flew under their own branding from 1982 until mid-1985, as

United Express United Express is the brand name for the regional branch of United Airlines, under which six individually owned regional airlines operate short- and medium-haul feeder flights. On October 1, 2010, UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines merged t ...

from mid-1985 through early 1987 on a

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

basis on behalf of

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, and then as Alaska Horizon from early 1987 through late 2008 on a code sharing basis on behalf of Alaska Airlines. By 1983, Horizon Air was operating two nonstop flights a day to Portland with Metroliner aircraft and in 1985 the airline was operating up to three nonstop flights a day to Portland, two with Metroliner aircraft and the third with a Fairchild F-27 turboprop. By 1998, Horizon Air was operating four daily flights from Pendleton with de Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprop service to Portland. One flight was nonstop while the other three all made a stop at Pasco, WA. Just prior to ending service in 2008, Horizon changed their schedule to two flights per day to Seattle with one stop at Walla Walla, WA using Dash-8-Q400 aircraft.

Recent and current airline service

SeaPort Airlines Cessna N1029Y at PDT on 15Oct2015 - 2

On October 21, 2008,

SeaPort Airlines SeaPort Airlines was a US-based regional airline with its headquarters at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon. It operated scheduled service from its bases at Portland International Airport (PDX) (Pacific Northwest region) and ...

was awarded a two-year grant under the federal

(EAS) program to provide commercial service from

to Pendleton beginning December 1, 2008, replacing the previous subsidized service operated by

. SeaPort service continued to operate utilizing the

Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargo ...

turboprop aircraft, six days a week until September 20, 2016, when the airline ceased all service due to bankruptcy.

was then awarded a contract for 21 round-trips a week between Pendleton and Portland using

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft, manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland, since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in add ...

turboprop aircraft, with the option to operate one service a day to Seattle/Tacoma instead of Portland, from October 1, 2016. The contract is worth US$2.3 million per year and goes until the end of 2022. Boutique Air has the option to operate trips from Pendleton to Boise in Idaho, but these will not be subsidized under the EAS program. Boutique Air is currently operating scheduled passenger service only to Portland from the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

References

Other sources

* * Essential Air Service documents
Docket OST-2004-19934
from the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States an ...

: *
Order 2005-3-35 (March 25, 2005)
selects Horizon Air Industries, Inc., d/b/a Horizon Air to provide subsidized essential air Service (EAS) at Pendleton, Oregon for a two-year period, and establishes a subsidy rate of $649,974 per year for service consisting of three weekday and four weekend nonstop or one-stop round trips between Pendleton and Portland with 37-seat Bombardier Q200 aircraft. *
Order 2007-2-19 (February 16, 2007)
re-selecting Horizon Air Industries, Inc., d/b/a Horizon Air, operating as Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines code-share partners, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Pendleton, Oregon, for an annual subsidy rate of $748,440, for the period from April 3, 2007, through April 30, 2009. *
Order 2008-10-25 (October 21, 2008)
selecting Alaska Juneau Aeronautics, Inc., d/b/a SeaPort Airlines, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Pendleton, Oregon, for the two-year period beginning when the carrier inaugurates full service, for a first year subsidy rate of $1,566,729 and $1,608,394 for the second. *
Order 2010-10-18 (October 26, 2010)
re-selecting Alaska Juneau Aeronautics, Inc., d/b/a SeaPort Airlines, to provide subsidized essential air service (EAS) at Pendleton, Oregon, for the two-year period from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2012, for a first-year subsidy rate of $1,463.681 and $1,502.521 for the second.

External links

Eastern Oregon Regional Airport
at City of Pendleton website
Aerial image as of May 1994
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' * * * {{authority control Airports in Umatilla County, Oregon Essential Air Service Buildings and structures in Pendleton, Oregon Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Oregon Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Technical Service Command Airfields of the United States Army Air Corps

Facilities

Historical airline service

Recent and current airline service

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Top destinations

Airline market share

See also

References

Other sources

External links