Our Story
Derek founded Portland Rose Balloons in 1996, flying a few passengers each morning with the original Rose balloon. With Portland known as the city of Roses, and a balloon that represents that perfectly, Portland Rose Balloons was born.
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The Rose Balloon is beautiful and unique.  Most balloons are a spiral or a colorful design, but the rose was unique, a burgundy balloon with a white rose. It stood out and impressed wherever it flew. As an homage to the original rose balloon, we recently took delivery of a brand new rose balloon, and it flys most mornings! 
 
​As demand and business grew over the years, more balloons were added to the fleet. Derek's son, Chris, has been around balloons since he was 10 years old, growing up around balloons and the ballooning community. He flew solo before he could get a drivers license and has been flying ever since. 25 years later, he is now owner and operator of the company, with Derek still flying passengers daily (when not traveling to balloon events around the world). 

The company now fly's four or more balloons every viable morning between March-September. We're experts with the local flying area and weather, and fly as often as we can. Our passion is flying and sharing the magic of balloon flight with you. ​
Hot air balloon preparing for takeoff against a green landscape
The Original Rose Balloon
Our Family
​Derek & Chris are two of Oregon's more experienced pilots. Derek has amassed over 3500 piloting hours in 29 years of flying.  He's flown in 20 countries all over the world, with his favorites being Chile, Thailand, and Turkey. Chris has flown in more than 12 countries, travels abroad to compete in competitive ballooning in the offseason, and has flown thousands of times. 
Pilots Raphy and Jon started out crewing and soon realized that they wanted to be in the air. They've dedicated themselves to flying daily and have amassed over 500 hours in a few seasons of piloting with us. Raphy is our lead instructor when training new pilots. 
We have over 20 crew, people on our team that love early mornings and getting balloons into the air & back onto the ground safely. Without our crew, we wouldn't be able to get the balloons in the air and fly you. They're the best. We're committed to ensuring that you have a safe, amazing, memorable, flight experience. We’re in this business to share the experience of Balloon flight with others. It's magical. Our pilots and crew love what they do.
 Our Balloons
Chris is a dealer for Kubicek Balloons, and all of our balloons are Kubicek. Known for amazingly durable, sturdy, and some of the safest balloons being manufactured, we are proud to fly their systems. With accessibility in mind, most of our balloon baskets have doors that allow for passengers to easily get in before and out after the flight. We have some of the newest and most state of the art designed balloons in the industry. Each balloon undergoes regular maintenance and rigorous safety checks before every flight. Our experienced pilots, all certified by the FAA, are committed to maintaining the highest safety standards, providing passengers with a secure and enjoyable flight experience.
Copyright Portland Rose Balloons LLC