Oregon's Air Transportation Industry

Oregon's air transportation industry includes 422 airports and heliports. Most are small private facilities. Many are in rural areas and provide transportation for passengers and cargo in remote areas. They also provide services to the agriculture and forestry industries. The better known facilities are large public airports located near population centers.

In the table below, Total Airport Operations refers to all take-offs and landings at an airport. Though the full definition is more complex, itinerant roughly means a plane left the area of the airport from which it departed.  Local means the plane stayed within the airport's area.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, national employment in the air transportation industry is expected to decline by 12 percent between 2012 and 2022. Continued automation that makes the industry less labor intensive and contributes to a net employment decline. The decline, however, is at a slower pace than the 20 percent loss between 2002 and 2012. 

For more on Oregon's air transportation industry, read Brian Rooney's full article at QualityInfo.org.