San Jose International Airport
San Jose International Airport, is a city-owned public airport in San Jose, California, United States. It is named after San Jose native Norman Mineta, former United States Secretary of Transportation and United States Secretary of Commerce, who also served as Mayor of San Jose and as a San Jose City Councilman.
While San Jose is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, SJC is the San Francisco Bay Area's second-busiest airport by passenger boardings, behind San Francisco International Airport. In addition, the airport is also an official U.S. Customs and Border Protection international port of entry. It is situated three miles northwest of Downtown San Jose near the intersections of U.S. Route 101, Interstate 880, and State Route 87.
1988–2010: Boom and bust
American Airlines opened a hub at San Jose in 1988, using slots it obtained in the buyout of AirCal (formerly Air California) in 1986. In 1990, Terminal A was opened to help accommodate the American operation. By summer 2001, American served Paris, Taipei, and Tokyo nonstop from San Jose and had domestic flights to Austin, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Maui, Orange County, Portland, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle. Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft parked at Terminal A with parking structure behind
After the September 11 attacks and the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, the city lost much of its service. Air Canada dropped its flights to Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, and American Airlines ended its nonstops to Taipei, Vancouver, and Paris. American also canceled service to Miami, St. Louis, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland (OR), Denver, Orange County, CA and Phoenix; the airline's flights to Los Angeles were downgraded to American Eagle regional flights.
In November 2001, the airport was renamed after Norman Y. Mineta, a native of San Jose, its former mayor and congressman, as well as both a former United States Secretary of Commerce and a United States Secretary of Transportation.[22] That same month, the San Jose City Council approved an amended master plan for the airport that called for a three-phase, nine-year expansion plan.[23] The plan, designed by Gensler and The Steinberg Group, called for a single, consolidated "Central Terminal" with 40 gates (four more than present), an international concourse and expanded security areas. The sail-shaped facade would greet up to 17.6 million passengers a year. A people mover system would link the new terminal with VTA light rail and the planned BART station next to the Santa Clara Caltrain station. Cargo facilities would be moved to the east side of the airport. A long term parking garage would be built where the rental car operations are now. A short term parking lot would be built on the site of Terminal C. On December 16, 2003, the San Jose Airport Commission named the airfield after former mayor Ernie Renzel and named the future Central Terminal after James Nissen.[24] In August 2004, the city broke ground on the North Concourse, the first phase of the master plan.
The originally-approved master plan was scaled-back in 2005. The new two-phase plan called for a simplified Terminal B, rather than the initially proposed James Nissen Central Terminal, with a North Concourse to replace the aging Terminal C. In addition, Terminal A would be expanded for additional check-in counters, security checkpoints, and drop-off/pick-up curbside space. The new plan cost $1.3 billion, less than half of the original plan's $3 billion. The first phase was completed on June 30, 2010, when Terminal B and the North Concourse officially opened for service. Planning for Phase II began in early 2018, with 6 additional gates to be added along with a new concourse extension at the south end of Terminal B.
Service reductions continued throughout the early 2000s. Alaska Airlines halted its Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas seasonal routes, Horizon Air ended its Tucson service and American Airlines ended its San Luis Obispo and Boston Logan links. Some additions still occurred. In October 2005, Hawaiian Airlines began daily nonstops to Honolulu. In October 2006 American Airlines ended the San Jose–Tokyo–Narita route, San Jose's last nonstop beyond North America and Hawaii.
SJC suffered with many mid-tier airports during the 2008 rise in oil prices as airlines reduced marginal services. The airport lost much of its transcontinental U.S. service in the fall with Continental ending Newark flights, JetBlue ending Boston nonstops, and United ending flights to its Chicago–O'Hare and Washington Dulles hubs. The New York Times reported that between 2007 and 2009, SJC lost 22% of its seat capacity. Frontier Airlines pulled out of SJC in May 2010, citing lack of profitability on its single flight from the airport to Denver, Colorado. In August 2010, Mexicana Airlines also suspended all flights permanently due to bankruptcy.
