Oakland International Continues Upward Trend with 8.4% Total Annual Growth

25 Consecutive Months of Passenger Growth, New Flights Ahead

Oakland, CA – February 4, 2016: The Oakland International Airport looks forward to a healthy 2016 as it closes the 2015 books on many positive developments – increased passengers, exciting new destinations, its one millionth BART passenger, and the Terminal One Renovation Project well underway.

As the San Francisco Bay Area continues to boom, 2015 was a great year to be in Oakland. The city hit the nation’s radar as a destination for tech innovation, tourism, and a cultural epicenter for the arts and signature California cuisine.

Oakland and the surrounding East Bay region was touted by the New York Times, listed as the sole California destination to visit in 2016.  “The Town,” as it is affectionately known by many, is now seeing businesses like Uber and Sunset Magazine relocate to its downtown City Center and waterfront Jack London Square. In like fashion, the Oakland International Airport – the airport closest to most residents and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area – mirrored Oakland’s rise, by seeing a notable rise of its own.

Reports show that OAK is the fastest growing airport in the Bay Area on a percentage basis, with 11,205,063 passengers having traveled through OAK in 2015, up from 10,336,788 in 2014. This upward trend has been consistent at the Oakland International Airport with increases in passenger traffic every month compared to the same month the prior year for the past 25 months.

Robust numbers at Southwest Airlines, which has its largest California base at OAK, with 115 peak day departures and over 2,400 based employees, contributed to the Airport’s growth by adding six new nonstop markets from coast to coast. Significant growth was also achieved by Spirit Airlines, which added service to Houston and Los Angeles, and Volaris Airlines, which added Tijuana, Baja, Mexico in 2015. European carrier Norwegian saw 55.6% growth year-over-year in its first full year operating nonstop routes between Oakland and Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden.

December 2015 presented the first complete monthly year-over-year statistics for BART to OAK ridership. Ridership was up 11% versus December 2014, the first full month of BART service.

Perhaps the best part OAK’s growth are the 9 additional nonstop destinations added to the Airport’s route map.

New Nonstop Destinations in 2015

New Routes Announced to Begin in 2016

Customer favorites such as free airport parking for travelers to Europe and Hawaii continue into 2016.  Port of Oakland Acting Aviation Director Kristi McKenney says, “The San Francisco Bay Area, as a region, is doing very well right now. Continued growth at Oakland International Airport reflects that and also it clearly demonstrates that when flights are added at OAK, both local residents and visitors will immediately respond by filling them.” She added, “Our air carriers tell us this has been the case for each of the new markets added.”