Oakland International Airport
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Coordinates: 37°43′17″N 122°13′15″W / 37.72139, -122.22083

Oakland International Airport (IATA: OAK, ICAO: KOAK, FAA LID: OAK)(37°43′17″N 122°13′15″W / 37.7213, -122.2207), also known as Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, is a public airport located ten miles (15 km) south of the central business district of Oakland, a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is owned by the Port of Oakland.¹³

One of three international airports in the San Francisco Bay Area, airlines serving Oakland International provide service to numerous destinations in the United States, as well as Mexico. It has proven a popular alternative to San Francisco International, thanks largely to a heavy Southwest Airlines presence. Despite Southwest Airlines resuming service at SFO, Oakland International still has the highest Southwest traffic of all the Bay Area airports. In 2006, 14.4 million passengers used the airport.⁴

Oakland International is popular with low cost airlines and in recent years has been one of the nation's fastest growing airports. A $1.4 billion dollar expansion project currently underway is expected to be completed by 2009. The project includes the addition of five gates to Terminal 2, which were made available for flights starting in the fall of 2006; the last one opened in the spring of 2007. Eventually, terminal 1 will be renovated and expanded by seven gates.

In addition to airline operations, Oakland International is a large general aviation airport. Airline operations use the South Field (runway 11/29), while general aviation uses the North Field (runways 9R/27L, 9L/27R, and 15/33). In 2004, OAK had 339,163 aircraft movements (take-offs or landings), and was the 30th busiest airport in the United States. It used to serve as one of Alaska Airlines maintenance facilities until it closed in 2004 when the carrier cut jobs.

History

Construction of the airport began in 1927, and the airport was dedicated by Charles Lindbergh that September. In its early days, Oakland was the departing point of several historic flights, including Charles Kingsford Smith's historic US-Australia flight in 1928, and Amelia Earhart's final flight in 1937.

Boeing Air Transport (a predecessor of United Airlines) began scheduled flights to Oakland in December 1927. It was joined by Trans World Airlines in 1932.

Aerial view of NAS Oakland in the mid-1940s

In 1943, the U.S. Armed Forces took over Oakland Airport and transformed it into an airlift base for military flights to the Pacific islands, ordering all scheduled service to move to San Francisco International Airport. After the war, airlines slowly returned to Oakland: Western Airlines began flights in 1946, and was followed by American Airlines, TWA, and PSA.

The airport's first jet-age airline terminal (now Terminal 1) was opened in 1962, part of a $20 million expansion and renovation project. The 16-gate facility featured the airport's first jetways. During the Vietnam War, World Airways shuttled thousands of military passengers through Oakland to their bases in Southeast Asia, and an International Arrivals facility was built, allowing the airport to handle scheduled flights outside the United States for the first time.

After the war, Oakland's traffic slumped, but airline deregulation prompted several low-fare carriers to begin regional flights into the airport. This rapid increase prompted the airport to build a $16.3 million second terminal, Lionel J. Wilson Terminal 2, with seven new gates for PSA and AirCal service.

FedEx Express opened a cargo base in Oakland in 1988, which is now one of the busiest air freight terminals in the United States. In the 1990s, Southwest Airlines opened a crew base in Oakland, and expanded its flights to become the airport's dominant passenger carrier. The airport does have international arrival facilities, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. However, international service beyond Mexico has been sporadic. In the past, Corsair served Orly Airport in Paris, France and Papeete, Tahiti and Martinair served Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

United Airlines vacated its 300,000-square-foot (30,000 m²) Oakland Maintenance Center in May 2003 and transferred work to its remaining maintenance hub at San Francisco International Airport. UPS has expressed an interest in this location.

Since 2006, Oakland International Airport has been undergoing renovations, including adding six gates in Terminal 2. The new gates, 27-32, opened in Summer 2006 and a new baggage claim in Terminal 2 opened. The former terminal 2 baggage claim has been replaced by a new security screening area. Roads going through Oakland Airport are currently undergoing improvements and are scheduled to be completed in 2008.

Oakland is currently suffering a series of service cutbacks in recent months due to rapidly rising fuel costs, particularly more so compared to other Bay Area airports. In just a few days, Oakland's numerous non-stops to Hawaii were entirely eliminated following the liquidation of ATA and Aloha Airlines, although Hawaiian Airlines introduced one daily flight to Honolulu a month later. American Airlines and Continental Airlines both ended service to Oakland shortly after Labor Day weekend. Southwest Airlines will eliminate six flights in November, United Airlines will end service to Los Angeles on November 2, and TACA ended service to San Salvador on September 1. All of these service reductions have resulted in the cancellation of the $500 million Terminal 3 project. ⁵

Airlines and destinations

Two Boeing 737s at Oakland International Airport - one operated by Southwest Airlines and the other by Alaska Airlines.

Oakland International Airport has two terminals, connected by an airside walkway:

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 has 17 Gates: 1, 3, 4-7, 8-8A, 9-9A, 10-12, 14-14A, 15, 17

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 has 13 Gates: 20 - 32

Facilities and aircraft

Oakland International Airport covers an area of 2,600 acres (1,052 ha) which contains four runways¹:

• South Field (Commercial and cargo operations):
  • Runway 11/29: 10,000 x 150 ft (3,048 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt

• North Field (General aviation operations):
  • Runway 9R/27L: 6,212 x 150 ft (1,893 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
  • Runway 9L/27R: 5,454 x 150 ft (1,662 x 46 m), Surface: Asphalt
  • Runway 15/33: 3,372 x 75 ft (1,028 x 23 m), Surface: Asphalt

A number of general aviation FBOs are located on the North Field:

• Transient aircraft support
  • Business Jet Center
  • Kaiser Air

• Flight schools
  • Alameda Aero Club
  • Lou Fields Aviation
  • Oakland Flyers

• Repair operations
  • Oakland Aircraft Maintenance

• Other
  • Aerial Advertising Services
  • Oakland Western Aerospace Museum
  • Pacific Aerial Surveys

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 412,444 aircraft operations, an average of 1,129 per day: 46% general aviation (188,064), 42% scheduled commercial, 12% air taxi and <1% military. There are 277 aircraft based at this airport: 51% single-engine, 34% multi-engine, 10% jet and 4% helicopter.

Ground Transportation

Public

Oakland International is not directly connected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, but AirBART shuttle buses and AC Transit's Lines 50 (final destination Bayfair BART, not Fruitvale BART) and 805 buses take passengers between the terminal and the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station. Since the airport's renovation, AirBART now has a single stop located halfway between terminals 1 and 2 on the third curb. The bus has a layover of a few minutes depending on the passenger load. AC Transit has one quick stop with no layover at the same location between the terminals but on the fourth curb. AirBART generally comes more often than AC Transit buses. AirBART and Line 50 run during regular hours from about 5am to midnight, whereas Line 805 is a night bus that runs from midnight to 5am.

A people mover or monorail connection between BART and the terminal was planned--starting at the beginning of the new millennium--as a faster, more convenient method than AirBART. The project's planning ended during November, 2008. This was mainly because of the project's cost, coupled with an [economic] recession. A less expensive plan, and anticipation of better economic times ahead, has kept BART's hope alive; continuing to find a faster way to get passengers from the trains to the terminal, in a more environmentally-friendly manner.⁶

Road

Oakland International is accessible from Interstate 880 (Nimitz Freeway) which is 2 miles (3 km) away. The airport can be reached by exiting Hegenberger Road or 98th Avenue heading west; both streets converge into Airport Road before looping around in front of the terminals.

Recent Publicity

Oakland control tower and terminal

Military aircraft mistake

On September 27, 2007, Oakland airport authorities ordered North American Airlines Flight 1777, carrying 200 U.S. Marines home from duty in Iraq, to park 400 yards (370 m) away from the airport terminal and refused to allow the troops to enter the terminal, although they were allowed off the aircraft to stretch their legs and use restrooms.⁷ The airliner had stopped in Oakland to refuel and reprovision. Oakland authorities stated that their decision was based on the fact that, "The airport received information that the passengers were not screened by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at their originating airport and that weapons were on-board the aircraft." The airplane's passengers, however, had been screened by TSA at John F. Kennedy International Airport and no further screening was necessary. Oakland Airport officials apologized for the mistake - "There was no disrespect that was intended," said Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland, which runs the airport. "There was confusion. There were mistakes that were made."⁷ However, U.S. Representative John Mica stated that, "We believe this is not an isolated incident" and asked the United States Department of Transportation (DoT) to investigate.⁸

The DoT released the report of its investigation on January 30, 2008. The investigation concluded that the airport did not break any laws or regulations in the incident. The investigation found that the contract under which military chartered transport aircraft are serviced at the airport does not require access to the terminal facilities for military passengers. The report stated that airport management was concerned that they could not provide "an adequate level of escort and control of such a large group of military personnel in or around the terminal area". The airport personnel were also concerned over the proper safeguarding and securing of the weapons carried on the military transport. The report further stated that a contributing factor was a lack of communication and coordination between the U.S. Department of Defense and the Homeland Security Department, especially with regard to security screenings of military personnel on the chartered flights. The report recommended that a task force be established with representatives from Homeland, Defense, and Transportation departments and airlines and airports to develop a uniform process for handling military personnel on all military chartered flights at U.S. airports. Commenting on the report, Mica stated, "The shocking thing is that there is no protocol for handling our returning troops, and at Oakland they got a very rude welcome. We just need to get some regular order of the process so we don't have a recurrence of what we saw happen here."⁹

Runway Safety

Possibly due to its smaller size and fewer flights, Oakland airport has fared much better at avoiding runway incursions, with only one in the past year. ¹⁰.

See also

• List of airports in the San Francisco Bay area
• List of airports in California
• California World War II Army Airfields

References

External links

• Oakland International Airport - official site
• Airport Interactive Map: Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau
• OAK WiFi Internet Service

• FAA Airport Diagram(PDF), effective 25 September 2008
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KOAK
  • ASN accident history for OAK
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KOAK
  • FAA current OAK delay information