Misplaced Pages

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106-546: San Francisco International Airport ( IATA : SFO , ICAO : KSFO , FAA LID : SFO ) is the primary international airport serving the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California . It is located in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County , and is about 12 miles southeast of San Francisco. SFO is the largest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area and the second-busiest in

212-727: A Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber, was a marvel for its time. The building became the Central Terminal with the addition of the South Terminal and the North Terminal and was heavily rebuilt as the International Terminal in 1984 and then modified again as the current Terminal 2. Domestically, the April 1957 Official Airline Guide (OAG) lists 71 scheduled weekday departures on United (plus ten flights

318-549: A noise computer model to predict improvement in specific residential interiors for a variety of noise control strategies. This pilot program was conducted for a neighborhood in South San Francisco and success was achieved in all of the homes analyzed. The costs turned out to be modest, and the post-construction interior sound level tests confirmed the predictions for noise abatement. To date over $ 153 million has been spent to insulate more than 15,000 homes in

424-718: A Commonwealth Government monopoly on scheduled airline services throughout Australia. Its legislation was stymied, however, by the Airline Operators Secretariat, which argued that the Constitution guaranteed freedom of commerce between states. The High Court agreed in its Airlines Case decision. That did not, however, prevent the Government from starting its own airline, Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), in 1946. ANA then had effective and well-resourced competition on its inter-state air services for

530-536: A capital of £90,000, was registered in July 1934, and ordered two de Havilland D.H.86 Express airliners. The first of these, VH-URN Miss Hobart , began operating across Bass Strait on 28 September 1934, but went missing just three weeks later, on 18 October, and was believed to have crashed off Wilsons Promontory . Captain Victor Holyman's was one of the twelve lives lost. Undaunted, Holyman's Airways purchased

636-448: A controlling interest in AoA in April 1937, although the two airlines retained separate public identities until 1942. Between them the two airlines operated four DC-2s and four DC-3s by the time of the outbreak of World War II , as well as several other aircraft including two Model As, two D.H.84s, two D.H.86s and nine de Havilland D.H.89 Rapides . When Australia entered World War II in 1939

742-493: A few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

848-424: A modification to allow aircraft landing on 28L to use Instrument Landing System (ILS) while the aircraft landing on 28R takes an offset course, monitored via high scan rate ground radar, to maintain a lateral spacing greater than 750 ft until the aircraft can maintain visual separation. Visual separation typically occurs once the aircraft has descended below the cloud deck at an altitude of 2,100 feet (640 m). This

954-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

1060-475: A number of struggling regional airlines during the mid-1930s. It was restructured as AoA in 1934 with funding by an investment group the British Pacific Trust. In 1936 it introduced Stinson Model A airliners in a regular service between Sydney and Brisbane, and later acquired Douglas DC-2s and Douglas DC-3s . After several months of fruitless negotiations with its financiers, ANA managed to gain

1166-572: A rate of up to 60 aircraft per hour. When using 28L and 28R for landing, aircraft join the final approach at DUMBA waypoint next to the Dumbarton Bridge . In most circumstances, aircraft from the north or west start the approach from Daly City, California , descend along the east or west shoreline of the San Francisco Peninsula , and join the final after bypassing waypoints MENLO near Menlo Park and DUMBA; aircraft from

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1272-745: A regular service between Melbourne , Flinders Island and Launceston in September 1933. Following the Australian Government's announcement of the Empire Air Mail Scheme late in 1933, Holymans entered into a partnership with the two main shipping companies servicing Tasmania, Huddart Parker and the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand , to form an equal-share partnership in a new Holyman's Airways Pty Ltd headed by Ivan Holyman. The new company, with

1378-452: A second-hand D.H.84 (VH-URG Golden West ) and ordered two more D.H.86s, and soon began to expand operations throughout south-eastern Australia. A route from Melbourne to Sydney via Canberra was established in 1935 using D.H.86 VH-UUB Loila . On the day of a first proving flight between the capitals, 2 October, another D.H.86, VH-URT Loina , crashed into Bass Strait off Flinders Island killing all five on board. The Melbourne-Sydney flights,

1484-422: A total of 27 gates when completed in 2024 including a secure Federal Inspection Services (FIS) connector to the existing customs facilities in the International Terminal. This effectively added six new gates that can handle international arrivals. A renovation of Boarding Area C was expected to begin after the completion of work on Boarding Area B, but there were no current plans as of September 2024. In April 2018,

1590-470: A week to Honolulu), 22 on Western Airlines , 19 on Southwest Airways (which was later renamed Pacific Air Lines ), 12 on Trans World Airlines (TWA), seven on American Airlines and three on Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). As for international flights, Pan American had 21 departures a week, Japan Airlines (JAL) had five, and Qantas also had five. Southwest Airways began flying scheduled passenger operations from SFO in 1946 with war surplus C-47s ,

1696-571: A year later, including an estimate of US$ 200,000,000 (equivalent to $ 366,000,000 in 2023) for the Cargill wetlands purchase and restoration. The delays during poor weather (among other reasons) caused some airlines, especially low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines , to shift all of their services from SFO to the Oakland and San Jose airports. However, Southwest eventually returned to San Francisco in 2007. A long-planned extension of

1802-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1908-586: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

2014-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

2120-548: Is known as the Precision Runway Monitor/Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approach and reduces the capacity to 36 arriving aircraft per hour. In poor visibility conditions, FAA instrument approach rules require aircraft to maintain lateral separation of 4,300 feet (1,300 m), meaning only one runway may be used, reducing the capacity of SFO to 25–30 arriving aircraft per hour. During rainstorms (approximately 4% of

2226-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

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2332-529: Is operated by Covenant Aviation Security , a Transportation Security Administration contractor, nicknamed "Team SFO". SFO was the first airport in the United States to integrate in-line baggage screening into its baggage handling system and has been a model for other airports since the September 11 attacks in 2001. In September 2018, SFO announced plans to use sustainable fuels after signing an agreement with fuel suppliers, airlines, and agencies. As part of

2438-567: Is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco and has a mailing address with a ZIP Code assigned to San Francisco. Between 1999 and 2004, the San Francisco Airport Commission operated city-owned SFO Enterprises Inc to oversee its business purchases and operations of ventures. The City and County of San Francisco first leased 150 acres (61 ha) at the present airport site on March 15, 1927, for what

2544-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2650-585: The Adelaide Steamship Company , owners of Adelaide Airways, with a view to an amalgamation aiming to become Australia's most powerful airline. Adelaide Airways had recently taken over West Australian Airways and the new combine would thus effectively control airline traffic between Perth , Adelaide , Melbourne and Sydney. With funding from the Orient Steam Navigation Company a new Australian National Airways

2756-634: The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to the airport opened on June 22, 2003, allowing passengers to board BART trains at the international or domestic terminals and have direct rail transportation to downtown San Francisco , Oakland , and the East Bay . On February 24, 2003, the AirTrain people mover opened, transporting passengers between terminals, parking lots, the BART station, and

2862-554: The Bellanca CH-300s flew San Francisco–San Jose–Salinas–Monterey–Paso Robles–San Luis Obispo–Santa Maria–Santa Barbara–Los Angeles. Competition with United led Pacific Seaboard to move all of its operations to the eastern U.S., and rename itself Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S). It became a large domestic and international air carrier. Chicago & Southern was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953, giving Delta its first international routes. Delta used

2968-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

3074-574: The Government of Australia requisitioned ANA's four DC-3s, leaving it to battle on with its assortment of lesser aircraft. However, ANA was soon operating a network of services around Australia on behalf of the war effort. It operated a large number of Douglas DC-2s, DC-3s and even at least one rare Douglas DC-5 , mostly on the behalf of the American forces in Australia. During the 1940s ANA

3180-464: The US State of California, after Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In 2023, it was the fourteenth-busiest airport in the United States and the 29th-busiest in the world by passenger count. It is the fifth-largest hub for United Airlines , functioning as the airline's primary transpacific gateway, and as a major maintenance hub. It also serves as a hub for Alaska Airlines . The airport

3286-481: The list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and the use of two letters allowed only

San Francisco International Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-484: The A gates of International Terminal to Terminal 1, Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, Terminal 2 to Terminal 3, and Terminal 3 to the G gates of the International Terminal. There is no connector directly between the International Terminal A and G gates. Formerly known as the "South Terminal", Harvey Milk Terminal 1 is composed of Boarding Area B, which currently has 26 gates (gates B2-B27), and Boarding Area C, which has 10 gates (gates C1, C3-C11). A third boarding area, Rotunda A,

3498-636: The Bay Area to offset the fill. One mitigation proposal would have the airport purchase and restore the 29,000 acres (12,000 ha) of South Bay wetlands owned by Cargill Salt to compensate for the new fill. These expansion proposals met resistance from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, fearing damage to the habitat of animals near the airport, recreational degradation (such as windsurfing) and bay water quality. State Senator John L. Burton introduced SB 1562 on February 18, 2000, to bypass

3604-687: The Britannias with Boeing 707s that did not require the fuel stop at the Wake Island Airfield . Japan Airlines (JAL) arrived at SFO in 1954; in 1961 it was flying Douglas DC-8s San Francisco–Honolulu–Tokyo. In 1961 Lufthansa had begun serving SFO with Boeing 707s flying San Francisco–Montreal Dorval Airport –Paris Orly Airport –Frankfurt three days a week. Lufthansa operated Boeing 720Bs on this routing in 1963 along with Boeing 707s to Frankfurt via Montreal and London Heathrow Airport . Pan Am/Panagra service from SFO to South America

3710-665: The DC-6B was a more economical aircraft to operate than the smaller Viscount, passengers preferred the Viscount, which was faster and, being a turboprop aircraft, had a quieter cabin with less vibration. Sir Ivan Holyman also wanted to expand ANA's activities to cover international routes, but that was largely prevented by the Commonwealth Government holding an effective monopoly on Australian-based international air travel through its own airline, QANTAS . An exception

3816-523: The IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn , is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as

3922-801: The International Terminal). The new International Terminal includes the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Museum and Library and the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, as part of the SFO Museum. SFO's long-running museum exhibition program, now called SFO Museum, won unprecedented accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums in 1999. SFO experiences delays (known as flow control ) in overcast weather when only two of

4028-486: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors and mayor Mark Farrell approved and signed legislation renaming Terminal 1 after deceased gay rights activist and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Harvey Milk , and planned to install artwork memorializing him. This followed a previous attempt to rename the entire airport after him, which was turned down. Following the art and photo installation,

4134-481: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Australian National Airways Australian National Airways ( ANA )

4240-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

4346-529: The agreement, Shell and SkyNRG began supplying sustainable aviation fuel to KLM , SAS , and Finnair flights operating out of SFO. Like all airports, SFO sustained a massive decline in traffic in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic . The only upside was that the decline reduced traffic to levels easily handled in all weather conditions. In 2022, SFO was ranked no. 1 by The Wall Street Journal on its list of Best Large U.S. Airports, on which

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4452-662: The airport had helicopter service on San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines (known as SFO Helicopter Airlines, and as SFO Helicopter) with 68 flights a day. Helicopters flew from SFO to downtown heliports in San Francisco and Oakland, to a new heliport near the Berkeley Marina and to Oakland Airport (OAK). In its timetable, SFO Helicopter Airlines, which was based at the airport, described its rotorcraft as "modern, jet turbine powered Sikorsky S-62 ten passenger amphibious helicopters". By 1962 Delta Air Lines

4558-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

4664-458: The airport was ranked no. 1 for both reliability and convenience. On August 6, 2024, SFO unveiled a new logo and brand identity, retiring its current logo after 24 years of use. The logo will be phased in over several years. The airport covers 5,207 acres (21.07 km) at an elevation of 13.1 feet (4.0 m). It has four asphalt runways, arranged in two intersecting sets of parallel runways: Runways are named for their magnetic heading, to

4770-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

4876-675: The airport's four runways can be used at a time because the centerlines of the parallel runway sets (01R/01L and 28R/28L) are only 750 feet (230 m) apart. Airport planners advanced proposals that would extend the airport's runways by adding up to 2 square miles (1,300 acres; 520 ha) of fill to San Francisco Bay and increase their separation by up to 4,300 feet (1,300 m) in 1998 to accommodate arrivals and departures during periods of low visibility. Other proposals included three floating runways, each approximately 12,000 feet (3,700 m) long and 1,000 feet (300 m) wide. The airport would be required by law to restore Bay land elsewhere in

4982-697: The base of the tower building contains passages between the two terminals for passengers both pre- and post-security screening, which dictated the narrow tower base. Originally scheduled for completion in the summer of 2016 at a cost of $ 102 million, the new tower began operations on October 15, 2016. SFO was one of several US airports that operated the Registered Traveler program from April 2007 until funding ended in June 2009. This program let travelers who had paid for pre-screening pass through security checkpoints quickly. Baggage and passenger screening

5088-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

5194-532: The detriment of the national balance of trade. In the late 1940s, TAA began acquiring Convair 240s , which were a pressurised improvement over the DC-3. ANA was not then in a financial position to begin replacing its DC-3s with more modern aircraft. When finally able to purchase new aircraft for long-range services, ANA chose the pressurised Douglas DC-6B whereas TAA acquired the Vickers Viscount . Although

5300-475: The directors of ANA expected. Recognising the benefits of competition in commercial aviation, the government enacted the Two Airline Agreement in 1952, to ensure that both airlines maintained viable business, while preventing competition from third parties, such as Ansett Airlines , from operating on inter-capital air services. When Holyman died in 1957, the shareholders offered to sell out to

5406-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

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5512-400: The environmental impact study that would normally be required for a large project like the proposed Bay fill and mitigation in order to expedite construction. SB 1562 was signed into law on September 29, 2000. A study commissioned by the airport and released in 2001 stated that alternatives to airport expansion, such as redirecting traffic to other regional airports (Oakland or San Jose), capping

5618-438: The first jetway bridge was installed at SFO, one of the first in the United States. On the cover of January 3, 1960, American Airlines timetable contained this message: " NOW! 707 JET FLAGSHIP SERVICE – NONSTOP SAN FRANCISCO – NEW YORK: 2 FLIGHTS DAILY " Also in 1960, Western Airlines was operating "champagne flights" with Boeing 707s and Lockheed L-188 Electras to Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and Portland, Oregon. In 1961

5724-580: The first regular daily airmail service between the two centres, got underway on 7 October. After a non-fatal accident in Bass Strait to the D.H.86 VH-USW Lepena on 13 December 1935, Ivan Holyman used his influence with the Australian Government to have an official ban on the importation of US -built commercial aircraft to be lifted, and Holyman's Airways ordered an example of the recently introduced Douglas DC-2 . It entered service as VH-USY Bungana on 18 May 1936. Early in 1936 Ivan Holyman approached

5830-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

5936-424: The first time since 1937. In 1946, the main aircraft flown by both ANA and TAA on interstate services were DC-3s, but both airlines soon acquired small numbers of Douglas DC-4s for long-distance and high-capacity services. ANA's attempts to further improve its fleet were hamstrung by such factors as insufficient finance and, when finance was available, Government refusal to allow large foreign currency purchases to

6042-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

6148-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

6254-507: The government, in order that ANA might merge with TAA and some smaller airlines. The government declined the offer. After initially dismissing his offer, the ANA board began talking with Reginald Ansett , head of the much smaller Ansett Transport Industries; with its main interstate operation Ansett Airways. Finally, ANA was sold to Ansett, on 3 October 1957, for £3.3 million. The two airlines were merged to form Ansett-ANA on 21 October 1957 and

6360-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

6466-732: The main stops being in Fiji, Honolulu, San Francisco and Vancouver, not including refueling stops over the Pacific. ANA also had overseas commercial aviation interests through shareholdings in Cathay Pacific and Air Ceylon . TAA proved so successful that, after the Liberal–County Party Coalition defeated the Chifley Labor government at the 1949 federal election , the new government was reluctant to close it down as

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6572-882: The military version of the Douglas DC-3 . In the late 1950s, Southwest Airways changed its name to Pacific Air Lines , which was based at SFO. In 1959, Pacific Air Lines began flying new Fairchild F-27s from SFO and by 1966 was flying new Boeing 727-100s from the airport. Pacific used the 727 to introduce the first jet service from San Francisco to several cities in California including Bakersfield , Eureka / Arcata , Fresno , Lake Tahoe , Monterey and Santa Barbara . In 1968 Pacific merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West, which also had its headquarters at SFO. West Coast Airlines had served SFO mainly with Douglas DC-9 -10s and Fairchild F-27s to Oregon and Washington states. In 1970, Air West

6678-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

6784-502: The nearest ten degrees; hence the runways at 14° from magnetic north are 01L/01R, and the runways at 284° are 28R/28L. The layout of the parallel runways (1L/1R and 28R/28L) was established in the 1950s, and have a separation (centerline to centerline) of only 750 feet (230 m). During normal operations (approximately 81% of the time), domestic departures use Runways 1L and 1R for departure while overseas international departures and all arrivals use Runways 28L and 28R, taking advantage of

6890-490: The neighboring cities of Daly City , Pacifica , San Bruno , and South San Francisco. The airport has four terminals (1, 2, 3, and International) and seven concourses with a total of 120 gates arranged alphabetically in a counterclockwise ring. Terminal 1 (B and C gates), Terminal 2 (D gates), and Terminal 3 (E and F gates) handle domestic and precleared flights. The International Terminal (A and G gates) handles international flights and some domestic flights. Historically,

6996-621: The next two decades. During the boom of the 1990s and the dot-com boom SFO became the sixth busiest airport in the world, but since 2001, when the boom ended, SFO has fallen out of the top 20. United Express turboprops were scheduled 60 minutes apart to the shuttle connecting passengers between SFO and nearby San Jose International Airport during the boom era. United Groundlink supplemented this service with alternate 60-minute frequencies. A $ 2.4 billion International Terminal Complex opened in December 2000, replacing Terminal 2 (known then as

7102-453: The number of flights, or charging higher landing fees at selected times of the day would result in higher fares and poorer service. However, the proposal to build new runways on Bay fill continued to attract opposition from environmental groups and local residents. The airport expansion cost was estimated at US$ 1,400,000,000 (equivalent to $ 2,620,000,000 in 2023) in 1998, rising to US$ 2,200,000,000 (equivalent to $ 4,020,000,000 in 2023)

7208-410: The oldest terminal building still standing is Terminal 2, which was originally completed in 1954 as the Central Terminal with four concourses (Piers B, C, D, and E, lettered sequentially from north to south). Terminal 1 was added as the South Terminal in 1963 with Piers F/FF (Pier F had two satellite rotundas) and G, and Pier E was reassigned to the South Terminal upon its completion. International traffic

7314-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

7420-495: The other direction to New York and London. Pan Am scheduled Boeing 707-320s from Tokyo nonstop to SFO (winter only at first) starting in 1960–61; the westbound nonstops had to await the longer range Boeing 707-320B. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, a predecessor of British Airways ) arrived in 1957; in 1960 its Bristol Britannias flew London–New York City–San Francisco–Honolulu–Wake Island–Tokyo–Hong Kong as part of BOAC's around-the-world service. By 1961 BOAC had replaced

7526-525: The prevailing west-northwesterly wind coming through the San Bruno Gap. During periods of heavy winds or if operations at Oakland International Airport conflict with SFO departures (approximately 15% of the time), Runways 1L and 1R cannot be used, and so all departures and all arrivals use Runways 28L and 28R. These configurations are known collectively as the West Plan , and accommodate arrivals at

7632-506: The property and the surrounding area expanding the site to 1,112 acres (450 ha) beginning in August 1930. The airport's name was officially changed to San Francisco Airport in 1931 upon the purchase of the land. "International" was added at the end of World War II as overseas service rapidly expanded. The earliest scheduled carriers at the airport included Western Air Express , Maddux Air Lines , and Century Pacific Lines. United Airlines

7738-602: The renamed terminal was opened to the media and public for preview tours in advance of its official opening on July 23, 2019. Harvey Milk Terminal 1 is the world's first airport terminal named after a leader of the LGBTQ community. IATA airport code The assignment of these codes is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in

7844-611: The rental car center on small automatic trains. SFO became the base of operations for start-up airline Virgin America , with service to over 20 destinations. On October 4, 2007, an Airbus A380 jumbo jet made its first visit to SFO. On July 14, 2008, SFO was voted Best International Airport in North America for 2008 in the World Airports Survey by Skytrax . The following year on June 9, Skytrax announced SFO as

7950-739: The route authority inherited from C&S to fly one of its first international services operated with Convair 880 jet aircraft from San Francisco to Montego Bay , Jamaica, and Caracas , Venezuela, via intermediate stops in Dallas and New Orleans in 1962. During World War II, the airport was used as a Coast Guard base and Army Air Corps training and staging base. The base was called Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Mills Field and Coast Guard Air Station, San Francisco . Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), which had operated international flying boat service from Treasure Island, had to move its Pacific and Alaska seaplane operations to SFO in 1944 after Treasure Island

8056-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

8162-424: The same location as the present-day Boarding Area (B/A) A in the International Terminal), Pier F/FF (used by Trans World Airlines (TWA) and Western Airlines, later renamed B/A B), and Pier E (used by American Airlines; originally part of Terminal 2, approximately at the present-day B/A C). The three-level Rotunda A addition was completed in 1974 at the end of Pier G. When the North Terminal was completed in 1979, Pier G

8268-422: The second-best International Airport in North America in the 2009 World Airports Survey, losing to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport . In response to longstanding FAA concerns that the airport's air traffic control tower , located atop Terminal 2, could not withstand a major earthquake, on July 9, 2012, crews broke ground for a new torch-shaped tower. The new tower is located between Terminals 1 and 2, and

8374-474: The south join the final through MENLO and DUMBA after flying over the Santa Cruz Mountains ; aircraft from the east join the final approach after bypassing Milpitas, California . Under visual flight rules, aircraft may safely land side-by-side essentially simultaneously on 28L and 28R while maintaining visual separation. When the visual approach is compromised, the West Plan is maintained with

8480-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

8586-585: The time), the prevailing winds shift to a south-southeasterly direction , and departing aircraft use Runways 10L and 10R, and arriving aircraft use Runways 19L and 19R. This configuration is known as the Southeast Plan . On rare occasions (less than one day per year, on average), wind conditions dictate other runway configurations, including departures and landings on Runways 10L and 10R, departures and landings on Runways 1L and 1R, and departures on Runways 19L and 19R and landings on Runways 28L and 28R. In

8692-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

8798-631: The world" flights from SFO to Guam , Japan, the Philippines, China and other countries; Pan Am also flew to Sydney from SFO. The year 1947 saw the start of United Airlines Douglas DC-6 flights to Hawaii and Philippine Airlines flights to Manila. TWA began flying Lockheed Constellations (L-1649A's) nonstop to London Heathrow and Paris Orly in 1957. In 1954 Qantas took over the ANA/BCPA route from SFO to Sydney; starting in 1959 their Boeing 707s flew to Sydney via Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji, and in

8904-488: The year ending February 29, 2024, SFO had 385,543 aircraft operations, an average of 1,056 per day. This consisted of 90% scheduled commercial, 7% air taxi , 2% general aviation and <1% military. There were 11 aircraft based at SFO, 6 helicopter and 5 military aircraft. SFO was one of the first airports to implement a Fly Quiet Program, which grades airlines on their performance on noise abatement procedures while flying in and out of SFO. The Jon C. Long Fly Quiet Program

9010-558: Was Australia's predominant aerial carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s. On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Flinders between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders Island in Bass Strait , which competed with shipping services offered by William Holyman and Sons Ltd. Due to monopoly arrangements with other Australian shipowners, Holymans (as it

9116-411: Was acquired by Howard Hughes who renamed the airline Hughes Airwest , which continued to be based at the airport where it also operated a hub. By the late 1970s, the airline was operating an all-jet fleet of Boeing 727 -200, Douglas DC-9 -10, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners serving an extensive route network in the western U.S. with flights to Mexico and western Canada as well. Hughes Airwest

9222-485: Was added to the North Terminal in 1981 approximately where the old Pier B stood, and the Central Terminal was rebuilt with a single pier (D) to serve international flights in 1983, until a new International Terminal opened in 2000. Since then, the terminals were renamed with numbers in 2001, and the older terminals are in the process of renovation. A rebuild of Terminal 2 (D gates, formerly the Central Terminal)

9328-407: Was completed in 1988. Terminal 1 then underwent a US$ 2,400,000,000 (equivalent to $ 3,046,920,000 in 2023) project to modernize the concourse and add gates; the project broke ground on June 29, 2016. The phase of the project to expand Boarding Area B includes the demolition of the old TWA hangar, the demolition of the two rotundas, and the relocation of two taxiways. The multi-phase project yielded

9434-457: Was completed in 2011, followed by the completion of the rebuild of Terminal 3 East (E gates) in 2015. The rebuild of Terminal 1 (B gates) was completed in 2024. A rebuild of Terminal 3 West (F gates) commenced in 2024, with full completion expected by 2029. There are airside connectors at SFO that enable passengers to move between adjacent terminal buildings while staying within the secure area. Since June 17, 2024 connectors are available between

9540-406: Was demolished in early 2006, as its functions had been taken over by the new International Terminal. The South Terminal, which cost US$ 14,000,000 (equivalent to $ 139,330,000 in 2023), was initially dedicated on September 15, 1963 . The terminal was designed by Welton Becket and Associates . When it opened, the South Terminal had three piers: Pier G (for international flights, approximately at

9646-512: Was eventually acquired by Minneapolis-based Republic Airlines (1979–1986) in 1980 and the airline's headquarters office at SFO was closed. The jet age arrived at SFO in March 1959 when TWA introduced Boeing 707-131s nonstop to New York Idlewild Airport (which was renamed JFK Airport in 1963). United then constructed a large maintenance facility in San Francisco for its new Douglas DC-8s , which were also flying nonstop to New York. In July 1959

9752-540: Was expropriated for use as a military base. Pan Am began service from SFO after World War II with five weekly flights to Honolulu, one of which continued to Canton Island, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Auckland. The first service by foreign carriers was on Australian National Airways (ANA) Douglas DC-4s flown by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines : Sydney–Auckland–Fiji– Kanton Island –Honolulu–San Francisco–Vancouver, BC. The first flight left Australia on September 15, 1946. In 1947 Pan American World Airways began its "round

9858-514: Was flying Convair 880s to SFO on one its first international jet services, San Francisco– Dallas Love Field –New Orleans–Montego Bay, Jamaica–Caracas, Venezuela. Also in 1962, National Airlines began flying Douglas DC-8s San Francisco–Houston Hobby Airport –New Orleans–Miami. SFO was among the first airports in the United States to install moving walkways inside a terminal. A 450-foot (140 m) set opened on May 20, 1964, in Concourse B and

9964-632: Was formed in 1934 and quickly became the key carrier at the airport, with Douglas DC-3 service to Los Angeles and New York beginning in January 1937. A new passenger terminal opened in 1937, built with Public Works Administration funding. The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows 18 airline departures on weekdays—seventeen United flights and one TWA flight. The August 1952 chart shows runway 1L 7,000 feet long, 1R 7,750 feet, 28L 6,500 feet, and 28R 8,870 feet. In addition to United, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines flew between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1933;

10070-460: Was known) was only allowed to carry passengers on internal Tasmanian routes, and resented the intrusion. Brothers Captain Victor Holyman and Ivan Holyman purchased a de Havilland D.H.83 Fox Moth VH-UQM Miss Currie which entered service on the same route on 1 October 1932, and soon amalgamated with Flinders Island Airways to form Tasmanian Aerial Services Pty Ltd . They later purchased a de Havilland D.H.84 Dragon VH-URD Miss Launceston that began

10176-478: Was merged into American Airlines while PSA was merged into USAir (later renamed US Airways which in turn eventually merged with American Airlines ). The airport closed following the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989, reopening the following morning. Minor damage to the runways was quickly repaired. In 1989, a master plan and Environmental Impact Report were prepared to guide development over

10282-645: Was operating new Boeing 727-100s which were joined in 1967 by Boeing 727-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s . In 1974 PSA was flying two wide body Lockheed L-1011 TriStars . After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, PSA expanded outside of California. In 1967, another intrastate airline joined PSA at SFO: Air California , flying Lockheed L-188 Electras nonstop to Orange County Airport (SNA, now John Wayne Airport ). Like PSA, Air California (later renamed AirCal ) eventually became an all-jet airline and expanded outside of California. AirCal

10388-531: Was plagued by a series of accidents and disasters that resulted in considerable adverse publicity. The most serious of these were: Many of these accidents were put down to human error (generally on the part of the pilots), and a tightening of operational policies seemed to have arrested the problem. A final disaster was: With the end of the Second World War in sight, the Chifley government proposed

10494-594: Was registered on 13 May 1936, and began services under its new name on 1 July 1936. It acquired a second DC-2 VH-UXJ Loongana that began a twice-weekly service between Melbourne and Perth on 21 December 1936. Meanwhile, efforts to expand operation northwards to Queensland were being thwarted by Airlines of Australia (AoA), its main competitor. Established in 1931 as New England Airways by G.A. Robinson and Keith Virtue of Lismore , it operated services in northern New South Wales and between Sydney and Brisbane , Queensland , expanding further into Queensland by taking over

10600-449: Was renamed Pier A, with the other piers renamed in a counterclockwise direction proceeding from the new Pier A. International flights were moved to the rebuilt Central Terminal (Terminal 2) in 1983, and then to the new International Terminal in 2000. The South Terminal underwent a US$ 150,000,000 (equivalent to $ 386,440,000 in 2023) renovation designed by Howard A. Friedman and Associates, Marquis Associates and Wong & Brocchini that

10706-576: Was routed through Pier G, and a new Rotunda G was completed in 1974 to expand Pier G. Terminal 3 was added as the North Terminal in 1979 with Pier A. Also, once the North Terminal was completed in 1979, the piers were renamed counterclockwise, with letter designations corresponding to present-day Boarding Areas, starting with Pier A (present-day Boarding Area A, originally Pier G), Pier B (present-day Boarding Area B, originally Pier F/FF), Pier C (present-day Boarding Area C, originally Pier E), and Pier F (present-day Boarding Area F, originally Pier A). A new Pier E

10812-565: Was started by the Aircraft Noise Abatement Office to encourage airlines to operate as quietly as possible at SFO. SFO was one of the first U.S. airports to conduct a residential sound abatement retrofitting program. Established by the FAA in the early 1980s, this program evaluated the cost-effectiveness of reducing interior sound levels for homes near the airport, within the 65 CNEL noise contour. The program made use of

10918-481: Was taken over in the late 1960s by Braniff International , which operated Douglas DC-8 -62s to SFO after Braniff's acquisition of Panagra. In 1970 CP Air (formerly Canadian Pacific Air Lines ) Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Vancouver, BC, and on to Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. The first nonstops to the U.S. east coast were United Douglas DC-7s in 1954. The airport's new Terminal Building opened on August 27, 1954. The large display of aircraft including

11024-416: Was the part Australian-government owned British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines , whose flights were operated by ANA between 1946 and 1948, when the airline purchased its own aircraft. ANA aircraft occasionally flew overseas under contract to the Commonwealth Government, such as immigrant flights between Australia and Italy in the late 1940s. ANA also commenced regular flights to North America in 1947 using DC4s,

11130-403: Was the world's longest moving walkways at the time. By 1960, all Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) flights out of SFO were operated with Lockheed L-188 Electras nonstop to Los Angeles ( LAX ) and Burbank (BUR) with some flights continuing to San Diego. In summer 1962 PSA had 14 departures a day Monday through Thursday to southern California, 21 departures on Friday and 22 on Sunday. In 1965 PSA

11236-597: Was then to be a temporary and experimental airport project. San Francisco held a dedication ceremony at the airfield, officially named the Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco, on May 7, 1927, on the 150-acre cow pasture. The land was leased from the Mills Estate in an agreement made with Ogden L. Mills who oversaw the large tracts of property originally acquired by his grandfather, the banker Darius O. Mills . San Francisco purchased

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