Oakland International Airport
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Oakland International Airport is located in Oakland, California and serves the San Francisco Bay Area metro region. Its IATA airport code is OAK. The airport serves numerous destinations in the United States, as well as Mexico.
The San Francisco Bay Area has three international airports. Oakland International has proven a popular alternative to San Francisco International Airport. 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.
Oakland International is not directly connected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, but AirBART shuttle buses take passengers back and forth between the terminal and the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station. A peoplemover or monorail connection between BART and the terminal is in an advanced planning stage; while the mode of the connection has yet to be determined, it will be fully integrated into the BART fare system. The connection is due to be completed around 2008.
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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.
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.
During the Vietnam War, World Airways shuttled thousands of military passengers through Oakland to their bases in Southeast Asia. After the war, Oakland's traffic slumped, but airline deregulation prompted several low-fare carriers to begin regional flights into the airport.
FedEx opened a cargo base in Oakland in 1988, which is now one of the busiest air freight terminals in the United States. In the 1990's, Southwest Airlines opened a crew base in Oakland, and expanded its flights to become the airport's dominant passenger carrier.
Terminals
Oakland International Airport has two terminals.
Terminal I
- Aloha Airlines (Honolulu, Kahului, Kona, and Las Vegas)
- Alaska Airlines (Orange County - Santa Ana, Portland, Seattle/Tacoma, and Sun Valley for ski season)
- America West Airlines (Las Vegas, Los Cabos, and Phoenix)
- American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth)
- Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection (Salt Lake City)
- Continental Airlines (Houston/Intercontinental)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta and Salt Lake City)
- Horizon Air (Portland OR)
- JetBlue (Boston, Long Beach, New York/Kennedy, Washington/Dulles)
- Mexicana (Guadalajara)
- North American Airlines (Cancun, Honolulu, Kona, Lihui, Maui, and Mexico City)
- SkyWest dba Delta Connection (Salt Lake City)
- SkyWest dba United Express (Los Angeles)
- North American Airlines and Ryan International Airlines dba Suntrips
- United Airlines (Chicago/O'Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, Washington/Dulles)
Terminal II
- Southwest Airlines (Albuquerque, Boise, Burbank, Chicago/Midway, Houston/Hobby, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, Ontario (CA), Orange County (Santa Ana), Phoenix, Portland, Philadelphia, Reno, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Seattle/Tacoma, Spokane)
Aviation Data
The airport is effectively run as two separate entities, the South Field which carries all airline traffic, and the North Field which is shared by cargo carriers and General Aviation.
Runway 29/11
(South Field)Dimensions: 10000 x 150 ft. / 3048 x 46 m Runway edge lights: high intensity Runway 11: MALSR, ILS, Heading 114 magnetic, 130 true Runway 29: ALSF2, ILS, Heading 294 magnetic, 310 true
Runway 9R/27L
(North Field)Dimensions: 6212 x 150 ft. / 1893 x 46 m Runway edge lights: high intensity Runway 9R: VASI only, no instrument approach, Heading 096 magnetic, 112 true Runway 27L: VASI only, no instrument approach, Heading 276 magnetic, 292 true
Runway 9L/27R
(North Field)Dimensions: 5453 x 150 ft. / 1662 x 46 m Runway edge lights: no Runway 9L: VASI only, no instrument approach, Heading 096 magnetic, 112 true Runway 27R: MALSR, ILS, Heading 276 magnetic, 292 true
Runway 15/33
(North Field)Dimensions: 3366 x 75 ft. / 1026 x 23 m Runway edge lights: no Runway 15: no approach lights, no instrument approach, Heading 148 magnetic, 164 true Runway 33: no approach lights, no instrument approach, Heading 328 magnetic, 344 true
External Links
- Oakland International Airport Homepage (http://www.flyoakland.com/)
- Airnav data for KOAK (http://www.airnav.com/airport/KOAK)