As Americans Recoil From Air Travel Amid Coronavirus, United Plans to Decrease Flights out of PDX from 20 to 16 Next Month

The change followed a "decline in demand flowing from the impact of COVID-19."

Travelers in Portland International Airport on March 1, 2020. (Justin Katigbak)

United Airlines will be decreasing its daily flights out of Portland International Airport from 20 to 16 beginning April 1.

United announced March 4 that it was cutting flights by 20 percent across the country. The Portland reduction is also 20 percent.

The company says the decrease in flights offered is a result of decreased demand following the coronavirus outbreak.

"Due to decline in demand flowing from the impact of COVID-19, we're taking additional steps to reduce our international and domestic schedules," United said in a statement. "All of our schedule reductions are, importantly, being implemented in a way that minimizes the impact on our employees and our operation."

The decision came amid multiple airlines cancelling domestic flights and waiving change fees as Americans hesitate at air travel during a pandemic. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly wants to warn seniors and people with underlying conditions to not fly.

And on Sunday, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said regional travel lockdowns are being weighed by the White House. Such travel restrictions would almost certainly apply to Seattle, the U.S. center of the coronavirus surge, and impact Portland.

What exactly that will look like at PDX remains uncertain.

A United spokesperson told WW on Friday that the reduced flight schedule out of Portland would be posted over the weekend, but the new schedule hasn't made clear which daily United flights have been canceled due to COVID-19.

In addition, Delta Airlines said it will decrease its nonstop daily flight from Japan to PDX to three times a week, The Oregonian first reported.

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