You May Not Be in Portland, Maine, When Landing at Portland International Jetport

If you've ever taken off or landed at the Portland International Jetport, you may be surprised to learn that you were not actually in Portland, Maine, when you took off or landed. Weird, right? Well, there's a reason for that.

First, some history via Wikipedia. In 1937, the city of Portland bought the airfield where the Jetport is today, and named it the Portland-Westbrook Municipal Airport. That's why its airport code is PWM. To this day, the city of Portland owns and operates the Jetport.

Commercial jet service started in 1968, which was highly touted as the new and fast way to travel by air in the '50s and '60s . Now, Portland had it so the name was changed to the Portland International Jetport, which has stuck now for over 50 years.

Not all of the Jetport sits on land in Portland. Take a look at this Google Maps image, showing the city lines between Portland and South Portland. The runway that lies from east to west is completely in the city of South Portland, as well as half the north-to-south runway.

Here's a satellite view of the airport and the borders between Portland and South Portland. Portland to the north and South Portland to the, well, south.

So what gives?

That land in South Portland was bought by Portland, so they own it; not unlike you owning land in your town. They needed the space, and that was that. I imagine that Portland pays taxes on the land their runway sits on to South Portland.

Luckily, the Portland Jetport does well, with over two million passengers taking off on the runway in South Portland in 2023.