[6] The Oregon Air National Guard has a base on the southwest portion of the airport property grounds, and is also the host unit of the 142nd Fighter Wing (142 FW), which operates the F-15 Eagle.

Local transportation includes the MAX Red Line light rail, which takes passengers between PDX and downtown Portland, as well as farther west to Beaverton.

[7] The small airfield couldn't easily be expanded, nor could it accommodate the larger aircraft and passenger loads expected to become common to Portland.

The city council issued US$300,000 and asked the Port of Portland to sponsor a US$1.3 million Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant to develop the site into a "super airport".

[9] Construction of the airport steadily employed over 1,000 men, and was described by historian Neil Barker as "Portland's most significant public works improvement during the New Deal era".

[10] The WPA and Port of Portland faced difficulties in preparing the site for construction because the low-lying area was frequently covered by flood waters from the Columbia River.

Workers covered the area with over 4 million cubic yards (3,100,000 m3) of sand to help drain it of water, and constructed a series of dikes to control flooding.

[citation needed] Plans made in 1968 to add a third runway by means of filling in parts of the Columbia River were met with vocal public opposition and scrapped.

[17][18] Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines wanted to add Tokyo to its network, but it lacked aircraft that could fly there nonstop from its Atlanta base.

[19][22] By the 1980s, the terminal building began an extensive renovation in order to update PDX to meet future needs.

[12] The Oregon Marketplace, a small shopping mall, was added in the former waiting areas behind the ticket counters.

[12] This marked the first concessions inside secured areas, allowing passengers to purchase items without having to be re-screened.

[citation needed] An expanded parking garage, new control tower, and canopy over the curbside were finished in the late 1990s.

"[21][28] Moreover, airlines were introducing more flights from the United States to Asia, allowing travelers to bypass the Portland hub.

[20][29][30]The present H-shape of the PDX terminal, designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership,[31] was completed on September 10, 2001, when the new A, B and C concourses, as well as the light rail line, were finished.

Probably the most stunning portion of PDX's interior, the new concourses reflect a Northwest theme, focusing heavily on the nearby Columbia River.

[32][33] In June 2004, Northwest Airlines introduced nonstop service to its hub at Tokyo-Narita aboard a McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

In order to funnel passengers from other American cities onto the flight, Northwest made use of its partnerships with four other carriers instead of adding its own domestic routes to Portland.

[39][40] In December 2016, the Port of Portland renovated the security checkpoints and immigration facilities as part of its PDXNext project.

The extension featured 4 jet bridges, 6 ground loading zones, and improved concession stands.

The Port of Portland requires all airport shops and restaurants to practice fair retail pricing—businesses are not allowed to charge more than at off-airport locations.

[52] Unique amenities include a microcinema run by the Hollywood Theatre; it shows free short films by Portland-based filmmakers that are primarily focused on the culture of the Pacific Northwest.

[105] The Red Line originally provided service as far as downtown Portland only, but in 2003 it was extended west to Beaverton.

C-Tran route 67 bus connects the airport to Fisher's Landing Transit Center in east Vancouver, Washington.