Phil Knight flies to Central Oregon as summer season begins in the high desert

Phil Knight flew from Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in the Coachella Valley to Roberts Field in Redmond, Oregon on May 14, a 1-hour 44-minute hop that arrived just before midnight. The flight is the latest in a pattern of shuttling between his Southern California desert retreat and his home base in the Pacific Northwest.

The arrival in Redmond places Knight near his long-held property in the Sunriver area, a high-desert enclave he has visited for decades. While no public appearance or business event is documented for this specific week, the trip aligns with the start of the warm-weather season in Central Oregon, a time when the region's golf courses with golf, cycling, and family gatherings. Knight's known travel habits, per flight records and reporting from the Portland Business Journal, include frequent hops to his homes in Southern California and Central Oregon, often letting Nike employees ride along if they make the departure time.

Recent flight history shows Knight's G650, tail N1KE made a round trip between Hillsboro and Palm Springs on May 9, then again on May 11, before this latest leg from the desert to Redmond. The hangar he built for $7.6 million at Hillsboro Airport, as reported by KATU, houses the jet when it's not in motion. For now, the pattern suggests a seasonal migration rather than a summons.