We’ve been watching US Airway’s Charlotte – Portland, Oregon (PDX) flight for many years now. The airline first offered summer seasonal nonstops between the two cities in 2007. The flight has remained seasonal ever since, though the season has gotten a bit longer in recent years. Now US Airways is making the big leap of offer its nonstop CLT – PDX flight throughout the year. Note that I did not say daily year-round — the flight looks to operate three days of the week (generally Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays) from roughly November through February before operating daily again come March.
This means that Charlotte now has year-round service to nine destinations in the mountain and Pacific time zones (Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Portland) plus summer seasonal service to Sacramento. What’s next out west? Probably not much anytime soon, regardless of whether the US Airways/American Airlines merger goes through. Tuscon or Albuquerque are probably the most likely possibilities, but there are several closer cities lacking service from Charlotte that would make more sense, beginning with Oklahoma City.
