SF Airports Struggle W/ Demand Despite Expansion Plans

<B>SF Airports Struggle W/ Demand Despite Expansion Plans</B>

By Judy Jacobs

San Francisco and San Jose international airports must expand to keep up with the rapidly rising demand in air traffic, according to a recent study, and while major projects either underway or planned will help to increase capacity, they will not solve all the problems.

The study released last year by the Bay Area Economic Forum--a group of business and government leaders--projected that traffic through the three Bay Area airports, which also includes Oakland (BTN, March 26), will double from 55.6 million passengers in 1998 to nearly 112 million by 2020. The three airports' current capacity cannot support this projected growth, leaving a potential gap between capacity and demand of nearly 15 million passengers, 13.2 percent of total demand, by 2020.

As a result, the study found that flight delays are likely to increase exponentially as Bay Area airports near capacity. The situation is already serious enough. The report found that delays at Bay Area airports cost passengers 4.4 million lost hours in 1999. The majority of those hours, 3.2 million, were at San Francisco International Airport. Business travelers alone, the study found, experienced 1.4 million lost hours at SFO.

The study concluded that none of the options being considered to help relieve congestion and delays are adequate to meet projected demand for air service without new runways. In the meantime, however, all three airports have ambitious plans to help address the needs that greater demand will bring.

San Francisco International has the most aggressive expansion plans, some of which are being challenged by environmentalists. The first stage of the $2.4 billion project, a new international terminal, was completed late last year. The $916 million, 130,000-sq.-ft. terminal has 24 international gates and handles 12 million passengers per year. It was needed to handle the growing international passenger traffic, which is increasing at a rate of 8 percent per year, four times faster than the domestic passenger growth rate.

Another element of the airport expansion project is improved ground transportation. An airport rail system, scheduled to be completed later this year, will connect the passenger terminals with each other and with the rental car center. The system will have nine stops and be able to carry 4,000 passengers per hour, none of whom will have to wait more than three minutes for a train.

Even more importantly, BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System, is in the process of extending its San Francisco line 8.7 miles from Colma, the current final stop, to Millbrae and SFO. After the project is completed next summer, passengers will travel between downtown and the airport in less than 30 minutes and at a fraction of the cost of taxis. Expansion plans also call for a 500-plus-room hotel to take the place of the former Airport Hilton. It is scheduled to be ready in 2004.

Perhaps the most important and definitely the most controversial part of the expansion plan is SFO's runway reconfiguration program. Plans are to rearrange the four runways so that two of them will be built into the bay on landfill. Currently SFO runways are only 750 feet apart, but Federal Aviation Administration standards require a separation of 4,300 feet for simultaneous dual landings during poor weather conditions. Relocating the runways would solve this problem, but environmentalists are challenging the plan, saying it will bring irreparable damage to the bay's ecosystem.

"We're looking into alternatives to putting new runways in the bay and trying to answer all the questions that the environmental groups have," said Ronald Wilson, director of SFO's Bureau of Community Affairs. "Nothing, however, will solve the delay problem totally except new runways in San Francisco Bay."

San Jose International also is in an expansion mode, both physically and in its international air traffic, with a $1.5 billion improvement project in the works and several new international flights scheduled to begin this spring. In the heart of Silicon Valley, the airport relies heavily on corporate travel for its existence, with 64 percent of its passengers being business travelers.

The airport's traffic is growing rapidly. One year ago it had 180 daily departures, which has grown 33 percent to a total of 240. To deal with the added flights, the airport is consolidating its two passenger terminals into one, which would incorporate the existing 31 gates in a project expected to be completed by 2005. After the consolidation, more gates will be added.

At the same time, the airport's general aviation runway is being reconstructed and lengthened to 11,000 feet long and the existing commercial runway also will be lengthened to give the airport two commercial runways. Another addition will be a 70,000-sq.-ft. federal inspection services facility, which will be ready next year. The airport has used a temporary immigration and customs facility since flights began from Japan 10 years ago.

The new facility will be well-used, judging by the airport's aggressive moves to attract more international traffic. In March, Air Canada established daily nonstop service to Ottawa--a flight expected to be heavily traveled for business.

Further increasing San Jose's status as an international gateway, American Airlines in April began daily service to Paris and Taipei. The carrier is using 204-seat Boeing 767 aircraft on its Paris route and 235-seat Boeing 777s to Taipei. Both will be outfitted with first-class sleeper seats.

Although Paris will offer the first direct connection between San Jose and Europe, Taipei is particularly important for business travel, considering the number of business connections that already exist between Taiwan and the Silicon Valley.

According to Mike Gunn, American Airlines' executive vice president of marketing and planning, there are nearly 50 Taiwanese venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, and some 60 high-tech companies from Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park have Silicon Valley offices. The directory of Taiwan companies in North America lists 300 high-tech firms in Silicon Valley.