Bay Area airports see more fliers — a record level at SFO
Traffic at Bay Area airports is surging along with the overall economy. San Francisco International Airport reported this week that a record 55.8 million passengers passed through its gates last year, up 5 percent from 2016.
Mineta San Jose International Airport said this week that its passenger traffic for 2017 rose to 12.5 million, up 15.6 percent over the prior year. The airport’s all-time record, 13.1 million passengers, was set in 2000, and it expects to get back up to that number sometime this year, according to a spokeswoman.
At Oakland International Airport, passenger numbers for 2017 reached 13.1 million — the most since 2007, and up 8.3 percent from 2016, the airport said Wednesday.
Although the number of passengers has been increasing, some travelers have yet to feel the squeeze. At SFO on Wednesday afternoon, the security lines were short and swift, the baggage carousels clear of huge crowds.
Regular fliers said that if traffic is growing, the airport is handling it in stride. Tim Williams, who lives in San Francisco and flies at
least eight times a year, said that nothing seemed too different during his latest trip.
“I mean, it was even less crowded this time,” he said. “No delays, either.”
Mohammed Idrissi, who was in San Francisco for a biomedical conference and on his way back to Eugene, Ore., had no complaints. SFO did not seem too different from the last time he was there a year ago, he said, despite the reported increase in traffic.
“It was probably more crowded at the airport in Eugene,” he said.
SFO, which is one of the country’s largest airports, is encouraging airlines to use bigger planes when possible, instead of adding flights. Last year, SFO flights held 158 seats on average, up from 134 seats in 2011.
The airport is also adding a number of routes this year. Some are from airlines not currently serving SFO. The new carriers include Hong Kong Airlines (to Hong Kong, starting in March); Interjet (to Cancun and Guadalajara, Mexico, also starting in March); Iberia Airlines (to Madrid, starting in April); and Icelandair (to Reykjavik, Iceland, starting in June).
Southwest plans 80 new weekly flights from San Jose, starting this spring.
Oakland is adding Southwest service to four destinations this year: Orlando, San Antonio, Indianapolis and Minneapolis-St. Paul.