Oakland Int'l Airport Expanding

<B>Oakland Int'l Airport Expanding</B>

By Judy Jacobs

Oakland International Airport is planning an expansion project. While passenger traffic increased 7.5 percent last year over 1999, airport officials expect a 5 percent yearly increase through 2004. The design process for a new terminal is underway, following a series of focus groups that were organized by the airport last year and drew participation from business travelers, airport officials, government reps and others.

Construction on the terminal expansion will begin in 2003 and be completed in 2005. The plan is to consolidate the two existing terminals into one and add 12 extra aircraft gates on two new concourses. Oakland International now can handle 9 million passengers per year. That number will be increased to 13.8 million after the expansion. As for runways, one is enough, at least for now. "In about 15 years we will need a new runway. Now we just have one commercial runway and that works out okay," said Cyndy Johnson, the airport's spokeswoman.

For several years, Oakland has tried to convince Bay Area travelers that its airport is more convenient than its competition. And many are convinced that it may indeed be so. Southwest Airlines passengers, for example, no longer have a choice. The carrier as of March 5 no longer flies to San Francisco International and transferred eight daily flights from SFO to Oakland. Southwest now has 126 daily departures out of Oakland.