Air Oregon was founded in 1978 in Portland, Oregon. In 1981, Air Oregon was acquired and merged into Horizon Air which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group which in turn is also the corporate parent of Alaska Airlines. Air Oregon operated scheduled passenger service in the Pacific Northwest and northern California, and also served Boise, Idaho and Reno, Nevada.
Destinations in 1981
According to its June 1, 1981 system timetable, Air Oregon was serving the following destinations shortly before it was acquired and merged into Horizon Air:
- Boise, ID (BOI)
- Eugene, OR (EUG)
- Eureka, CA - served via Arcata-Eureka Airport (ACV)
- Klamath Falls, OR (LMT)
- Medford, OR (MFR)
- Newport, OR (ONP)
- North Bend, OR (OTH)
- Pendleton, OR (PDT)
- Portland, OR (PDX) - Hub and airline headquarters
- Redding, CA (RDD)
- Redmond, OR (RDM)
- Reno, NV (RNO)
- Sacramento, CA (SMF)
- Salem, OR (SLE)
- San Francisco, CA (SFO)
- Seattle, WA (SEA)
According to the above referenced system timetable, Air Oregon was operating all flights at this time with 50-passenger Fokker F27 Friendship and 19-passenger Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II and Metro III models) turboprop aircraft. This timetable also states that Portland (PDX), San Francisco (SFO), Eugene (EUG), Medford (MFD) and Eureka (ACV) were all served with the larger F27 propjet as well as with the smaller Metroliner aircraft.
In 1979, Air Oregon was also serving Baker, OR (BKE), Corvallis, OR (CVO), Hermiston, OR (HES), La Grande, OR (LGD), Ontario, OR (OND), Roseburg, OR (RBG) and Seattle Boeing Field (BFI) from its Portland hub with those destinations located in northeastern Oregon also receiving service from Boise.
Aircraft
Air Oregon operated the following aircraft types during its existence:
- Beechcraft Bonanza (A36 model)
- de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7
- Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II and Metro III models)
- Fokker F27 Friendship
- Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain
- Piper PA-34 Seneca