Oakland airport flies into trouble
OAKLAND
THE WOBBLY economy has delivered a bigger jolt to Oakland International Airport than to the other passenger airports in the Bay Area, with the East Bay airport suffering a nearly 19 percent decline in daily departures and a net loss of carriers.
The airports in Oakland and San Jose have both lost daily departures over the last 12 months, according to officials at the transportation hubs.
"This is in keeping with what we are seeing around the country," said Rosemary Barnes, a spokeswoman for Oakland airport. "Airlines have progressively higher fuel costs. People who used for fly quite often for leisure purposes no longer have the discretionary income to do so as much."
The big beneficiary? San Francisco International Airport. That airport can offer direct flights to a growing number of major cities that no longer can be found via the airports in Oakland and San Jose.
Air carriers apparently want to focus more on the big jetliner hubs in a quest to curb fast-rising expenses such as fuel costs.
That can strip smaller airports of some flights.
"A lot of Southwest flights have been moving to San Francisco," said David Vossbrink, a spokesman for San Jose airport. "SFO is also adding more international flights."
Over the most recent 12 months the smaller airports have struggled and the Bay Area's biggest airport has captured more flights:
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airport has suffered an 18.7 percent slump in the average number of its daily departures and now has 187 a day.
# San Jose airport is down 17.4 percent in average daily departures, and has 157.
# San Francisco airport posted a 3.5 percent increase in daily departures and now has 499.
"We have three new domestic carriers in the past year, Southwest, Virgin America and JetBlue," said Mike McCarron, a spokesman for San Francisco airport. "All have expanded since they began operations here."
San Francisco airport also has added service to India, Ireland, and parts of China during the last 12 months, according to McCarron.
The travel trends, coupled with SFO's ability to siphon flights and airlines, have forced leisure and business travelers in the East Bay and South Bay to confront more obstacles as they seek to fly out of Oakland or San Jose airports.
Airlines serving Oakland no longer provided nonstop service to Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Barnes said.
San Jose is losing nonstop flights to Boston, Newark, N.J. and one of the Washington, D.C. airports.
Still, there are plenty of places that people can get to from both Oakland and San Jose despite the cutbacks. For example, Oakland still offers nonstop coast-to-coast flights to Boston, the New York area and Washington, D.C. In May, Southwest began offering its first-even flights between Oakland and Austin, Tex., Barnes said.
Oakland a year ago was being served by 13 carriers. It now has 11. But that number is expected to drop to eight carriers sometime during September, primarily because of the high-profile decisions by American Airlines and Continental to cease serving Oakland. Those carriers wanted to slash capacity and focus on profitable routes.
During the spring, the East Bay airport also was battered by the bankruptcies of low-cost air carriers Aloha Airlines, Skybus and ATA.
In part, these problems occurred because Oakland carved out a niche as a magnet for air passengers who hungered for bargains in travel costs. That gambit worked well for a considerable time. Then the series of discount airline failures terminated the good times.
"We are a low-cost airport," Barnes said. "Their success was our success. We had 10 years of progressive passenger growth."
The fall and winter flying seasons look to be bleaker for air travelers.
"There will be big cutbacks in the fall," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. "Every airline looks at every flight and looks to see if they are profitable. It all is because of the high cost of fuel."
OAKLAND
THE WOBBLY economy has delivered a bigger jolt to Oakland International Airport than to the other passenger airports in the Bay Area, with the East Bay airport suffering a nearly 19 percent decline in daily departures and a net loss of carriers.
The airports in Oakland and San Jose have both lost daily departures over the last 12 months, according to officials at the transportation hubs.
"This is in keeping with what we are seeing around the country," said Rosemary Barnes, a spokeswoman for Oakland airport. "Airlines have progressively higher fuel costs. People who used for fly quite often for leisure purposes no longer have the discretionary income to do so as much."
The big beneficiary? San Francisco International Airport. That airport can offer direct flights to a growing number of major cities that no longer can be found via the airports in Oakland and San Jose.
Air carriers apparently want to focus more on the big jetliner hubs in a quest to curb fast-rising expenses such as fuel costs.
That can strip smaller airports of some flights.
"A lot of Southwest flights have been moving to San Francisco," said David Vossbrink, a spokesman for San Jose airport. "SFO is also adding more international flights."
Over the most recent 12 months the smaller airports have struggled and the Bay Area's biggest airport has captured more flights:
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airport has suffered an 18.7 percent slump in the average number of its daily departures and now has 187 a day.
# San Jose airport is down 17.4 percent in average daily departures, and has 157.
# San Francisco airport posted a 3.5 percent increase in daily departures and now has 499.
"We have three new domestic carriers in the past year, Southwest, Virgin America and JetBlue," said Mike McCarron, a spokesman for San Francisco airport. "All have expanded since they began operations here."
San Francisco airport also has added service to India, Ireland, and parts of China during the last 12 months, according to McCarron.
The travel trends, coupled with SFO's ability to siphon flights and airlines, have forced leisure and business travelers in the East Bay and South Bay to confront more obstacles as they seek to fly out of Oakland or San Jose airports.
Airlines serving Oakland no longer provided nonstop service to Atlanta, Philadelphia, or Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Barnes said.
San Jose is losing nonstop flights to Boston, Newark, N.J. and one of the Washington, D.C. airports.
Still, there are plenty of places that people can get to from both Oakland and San Jose despite the cutbacks. For example, Oakland still offers nonstop coast-to-coast flights to Boston, the New York area and Washington, D.C. In May, Southwest began offering its first-even flights between Oakland and Austin, Tex., Barnes said.
Oakland a year ago was being served by 13 carriers. It now has 11. But that number is expected to drop to eight carriers sometime during September, primarily because of the high-profile decisions by American Airlines and Continental to cease serving Oakland. Those carriers wanted to slash capacity and focus on profitable routes.
During the spring, the East Bay airport also was battered by the bankruptcies of low-cost air carriers Aloha Airlines, Skybus and ATA.
In part, these problems occurred because Oakland carved out a niche as a magnet for air passengers who hungered for bargains in travel costs. That gambit worked well for a considerable time. Then the series of discount airline failures terminated the good times.
"We are a low-cost airport," Barnes said. "Their success was our success. We had 10 years of progressive passenger growth."
The fall and winter flying seasons look to be bleaker for air travelers.
"There will be big cutbacks in the fall," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. "Every airline looks at every flight and looks to see if they are profitable. It all is because of the high cost of fuel."
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