Phil Knight flies to Palm Springs for time at Coachella Valley residence

Phil Knight flew from Hillsboro Airport near Portland, Oregon, to Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in Thermal, California, on May 11 aboard his Gulfstream G650, tail number N1KE. The roughly two-and-a-half-hour flight covered the familiar route to the Coachella Valley, landing in the desert heat after departing in the late afternoon.

Knight, the Nike co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, maintains a residence in the exclusive Madison Club in La Quinta, just east of Palm Springs, which he purchased for $4.2 million in 2015, per a Desert Sun report. With no major public events tying him to the area this week—though the Joshua Tree Music Festival kicks off nearby on May 14—the trip appears to be a return to his California retreat, a spot long associated with the 88-year-old Oregon native's sojourns away from the Pacific Northwest.

This visit fits a pattern of recent shuttling: Knight's jet made round trips between Portland and Palm Springs on May 9, suggesting he's dividing time between his Hillsboro estate and the desert property. Such flights underscore his enduring ties to both locales, even as he steps back from Nike's daily operations while overseeing family holdings and foundations.