Holiday travel at Oakland airport saw a big dip

Winter holidays are usually peak season for the Oakland airport. However the East Bay noticed a giant drop in journey this 12 months.

Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport reported simply over 704,000 passengers used the airport in November. This represented a drop in passenger quantity of round 12% in comparison with November 2024, when nearly 800,000 individuals used the airport.

Like different airports throughout the nation, passenger quantity at Oakland plummeted because the pandemic started. Numbers jumped again in November 2021, and skilled Oakland strong growth the next 12 months, the entire variety of passengers elevated from 821,600 in November 2021 to 972,460 in November 2022. Nevertheless, since then there was a gradual decline in passenger numbers each November. And knowledge reported by the airport reveals this development holds true in different months as effectively.

The airport has not but revealed the December figures. The interval between late December and early January consists of a part of the busiest travel days at OAK, in keeping with airport officers. But when the remainder of the 12 months is any indication, airport site visitors in 2025 was not wholesome: in September SF Standard reported that OAK posted the worst decline in journey of any main U.S. airport within the first half of the 12 months.

Kaley Skantz, spokesperson for the Oakland airport, blamed a long-standing drawback for the November droop: the lack of enterprise vacationers.

“The decline in enterprise journey inside California is essentially the most important issue we’ve got noticed impacting passenger developments,” Skantz stated in an e mail.

The pandemic has put a big dent in enterprise journey throughout the nation. Almost a 3rd of respondents to a Morning Consult Survey in 2023 stated their firms had modified their journey insurance policies by lowering the variety of journeys or chopping again on the variety of staff touring. A prediction for 2025 by the American travel company famous that home enterprise journey spending skilled modest development and anticipated a rise over the subsequent three years.

Oakland is not the one native airport with dismal journey numbers. The East Bay Times not too long ago reported that San Jose Mineta Worldwide Airport is experiencing the same decline. San Francisco is booming in comparison with its two neighbors.

Skantz stated Oakland airport officers are encouraging airways so as to add new providers to OAK. She famous that there are 4 new each day nonstop flights to San Diego on Alaska Airways, which shall be accessible beginning April 22.

Airport officers have additionally not too long ago rolled out facilities aimed toward making the airport expertise extra nice. In December, the airport reintroduced a visitor cross program that permits non-flying passengers to accompany or meet their family members and associates on the terminal gates. Nevertheless, the enchantment of this program may very well be restricted by the truth that non-flying passengers should get hold of permission from TSA, which transmits knowledge to federal immigration brokers, in keeping with the New York Times.

Skantz stated officers on the airport are “working arduous to enhance our services to enhance the passenger expertise.” Final February, the airport introduced the completion of a renovated toilet in Terminal 1 – the primary in a sequence of efforts to modernize the airport’s services.

The Port Fee, which oversees the airport, tried to place Oakland on the map for vacationers by implementing a reputation change that controversially referred to neighboring San Francisco. San Francisco responded by suing Oakland, accusing port officers of making an attempt to deceive vacationers wanting to go to the West Bay. After a decide blocked Oakland didn’t need to use the brand new identify, however port officers selected a barely completely different identify for the airport: Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.

Different Oakland officers have taken steps to assist the struggling airport. Final September, the Oakland Metropolis Council voted to dismiss a lawsuit town lawyer was pursuing in opposition to Southwest Airways — one of many airport’s largest carriers — for allegedly depriving a few of its staff of sick depart. Some council members stated they have been involved about Southwest leaving Oakland due to the lawsuit. Shortly after the council’s determination, Mayor Barbara Lee met with Southwest’s CEO to debate partnerships to advertise the airport.

The airport can also see a rise in vacationers on account of main sporting occasions within the Bay Space in 2026. Close by Santa Clara will host the Tremendous Bowl in February and World Cup occasions in the summertime.