Oakland airport travel down, passengers up at SFO

A man and woman walk through the domestic terminal at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. More than 43 million people are to travel over the long holiday weekend, according to AAA. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) less A man and woman walk through the domestic terminal at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. More than 43 million people are to travel over the long holiday weekend, ... more Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Photo: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Oakland airport travel down, passengers up at SFO 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

Here's some holiday travel news that might surprise you.

Despite spending nearly a half-billion dollars to upgrade its terminals, Oakland International Airport has seen its annual passenger count plunge by almost 5 million since 2007.

By contrast, San Francisco International's passenger annual total has jumped nearly 9 million during the same period.

Officials on both sides of the bay say it's hardly a coincidence - much of San Francisco's growth has come at the expense of Oakland. A lot of it has to do with changing airline industry practices that have concentrated business at major hubs like SFO.

The shift raises the question of whether ridership on the 3.2-mile BART connector to Oakland's airport - scheduled to open in fall 2014 - will justify the project's $484 million price tag.

BART officials, while concerned about the passenger slump, are putting out a hopeful spin. They say they factored in conservative ridership estimates - a bit more than the 2,000 to 3,000 a day who now ride BART's airport bus shuttle - when they sold bonds for the rail project.

According to BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost, planners "are confident it will pay for itself, and look no further than SFO." After a slow start tied to lingering trauma from 9/11, BART's airport line ridership has more than doubled, to 4.4 million a year.

It now generates $17 million a year in "premium" fares.

There's also hope that a direct BART rail connection to the Oakland airport will bring some fliers back to the East Bay.

There's no denying Oakland needs the help. Its 10 million passenger count last year equaled the total in 1996, and business is slightly down this year.

SFO, meanwhile, had 44.5 million people fly in and out last year - a big boost from its 35.7 million prerecession annual total.

Officials say this tale of two airports is not happenstance.

"Quite simply, it's competition," said SFO spokesman Doug Yakel.

Oakland's troubles started in August 2007 when Virgin Airlines jumped into the domestic airline market at SFO. Within a couple of months, both Southwest Airlines and JetBlue started competing service in San Francisco, taking many Oakland passengers with them.

The slumping economy, meanwhile, led to a contraction of the airline industry. The upshot: Carriers consolidated operations at SFO, at the expense of the Bay Area's secondary airports in Oakland and San Jose.

Oakland officials tell us they they're seeing hopeful signs that business is finally picking up at the airport, and predict it will reach capacity within a decade.

"We look forward to the economy rebounding, and Oakland regaining its share of passengers, most from the East Bay," said Deborah Ale Flint, the airport's director of aviation.

Across the bay, by the way, Virgin announced last year that it was deferring some of its growth plans. That's prompted SFO officials to lower their expectations after years of good times. It's figuring on just a 1 percent increase in passengers this year.

"Will we see some growth at SFO?" Yakel said. "Yeah, but it will probably be modest."

Stuffing: Neil Young's interest is in the environment. For fellow rocker Lars Ulrich, Metallica's drummer, the big issue was illegal music downloads. Both paid $32,400 for a little time with President Obama during his visit to San Francisco.

Young and Ulrich were two of the more famous donors who dined on a steak luncheon prepared by Michael Mina at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the home of Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff.

Also at the table were three Iranian immigrant businessmen - just in time to talk about the nuclear deal Obama cut with Iran.

At the president's freebie event Monday - his speech on immigration in Chinatown - plenty of city department leaders managed to tear themselves away from their busy jobs and show their faces onstage behind the president.

Front and center: human resources head Micki Callahan, Public Utilities Commission chief Harlan Kelly, his wife, City Administrator Naomi Kelly, and Public Health Department boss Barbara Garcia.

New University of California President and former Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano also showed up for Obama's fundraiser at the SFJazz Center at the invitation of her former boss.