OAKLAND — Oakland International Airport saw more passengers in 2016 than it has in almost a decade, according to information released by airport officials Tuesday.

About 12.1 million passengers flew to or out of Oakland in 2016, a 7.7 percent increase over 2015’s count of 11.2 million. It was the busiest year for passenger traffic since 2007, when the airport saw 14.6 million passengers.

The traffic number was boosted by a strong December, which saw 1,030,516 travelers come through the airport. That marked eight consecutive months of traffic that topped 1 million passengers per month, and it was the 37th consecutive month of passenger growth for the airport.

“OAK is a growing gateway linking the San Francisco Bay Area, its globally leading business environment and world renowned tourism attractions to over 60 nonstop destinations across the globe,” said airport director Bryant Francis in a statement from the Port of Oakland. “We are encouraged by the sustained growth and look forward to further expansion in 2017 with (six) new destinations already announced.”

The airport will see several new nonstop flights this year. The first to launch will be Southwest’s flights to Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos, in Mexico, in February. In March, Norwegian will start a flight to Copenhagen, and British Airways will have a route to London-Gatwick, and in May, low-cost airline Spirit Airlines will launch flights to Baltimore and Detroit. After that, Southwest will have a new route to Newark starting in June, and Norwegian will start a nonstop flight to Barcelona.

The addition of those routes will bring the airport’s number of nonstop routes to 62 — the most it has ever had. The Oakland airport has been boosted by an increase in international and domestic travel to the East Bay. The airport has been working on a $35 million expansion to its international arrivals building that will double international flight capacity and recently unveiled a new passenger lounge to serve its growing number of passengers. There is also the ongoing $200 million renovation of Terminal 1, which was started in 2008 to update and modernize the airport.

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