Paine Field rebrands to Seattle Paine Field International Airport

Everett’s Paine Field has retired its name and has been converted to Seattle Paine Field International Airport.

Snohomish County decided to change the name so more travelers would know of this terminal’s existence, making travel sites recognize it as a passenger destination.

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“By having the Seattle brand in there, it gives it a very global reach so people know exactly where it is as soon as you say it,” Brett Smith, the CEO of Propeller Airports, told KIRO Newsradio. “That’s been one of the problems we’ve had for a while.”

While it currently only has a few passenger flights per day, Smith said the plan is to expand. The Seattle Paine International Airport is truly international, as Kenmore Air does fly to Victoria, British Columbia from the airfield.

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“This is really about people coming in and knowing that the airport is here and knowing that it’s a viable option to get into Seattle or wherever you’re going throughout Puget Sound,” Smith said.

The Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC), formed in 2019, began the search for a new airport location with 19 sites and narrowed the list down to three in 2022: Pierce County Central, Pierce County East, and Thurston County near Olympia. Paine Field was listed in the original list of 19 locations. The commission has since been disbanded after Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation to replace it with a new work group.

State models and forecasts showed potentially millions of passengers might not be accommodated at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport due to a lack of capacity by 2050.

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