The affected workers are employed by Bags, a California-based travel hospitality company.
PORTLAND, Oregon — This story comes from the Portland Business Journal, a KGW News partner. For the full story and other PBJ coverage, click here.
More than 150 workers at Portland International Airport will be laid off next month, according to a notice filed under Oregon’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act, or WARN.
The 157 affected workers are employed by Bags, a California-based travel hospitality company. The terminations are due to Bags’ contract with Alaska Airlines not being renewed and will be effective Nov. 17.
Bags, owned by Metropolis Technologies, did not immediately reply to a Business Journal request for comment. The WARN notice said “the new company awarded the contract will extend offers of employment to the current employees.”
The roles affected are largely for wheelchair agents, with 141 being eliminated. All of the employees are represented by a union. The notice also said that the company “remain(s) unsure if and when (it) will again staff its positions with Alaska Airlines at PDX.”
Bags operates in almost 300 cities globally, and offers travel hospitality services to hotels, convention centers, airlines and retailers like Walmart and Sam’s Club, according to its website.
The layoffs come as travel through PDX has been increasing.
The airport has had a 6.9% year-over-year growth in passenger arrivals in 2025, according to recent Bureau of Transportation Statistics data. From January to May 2025, PDX had 3.18 million arrivals, an increase of 204,000 from 2025, according to a Localsinsider.com study.
Condé Nast Traveler also recently named Portland as the fourth-best U.S. big city in a reader poll.