The city of Oakland is known worldwide for its rap history, but few outside California realize just how close the airport is to San Francisco. Driving from one downtown to the other will take just 24 minutes with a trip across the Bay Bridge.
As a result, the smaller Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK) has been working to market itself not just to those traveling specifically to the city but also people looking for cheaper flights to San Francisco. (OAK is served by low-cost airlines such as Spirit (SAVE) and (LUV) .)
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San Francisco sued Oakland Airport over its name
Earlier this year, Oakland city officials voted to add San Francisco Bay to the name of the city’s airport. The city of San Francisco promptly sued — in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California — when the first signs with the new name started popping up in May.
The city's biggest complaints were that a name like San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport misleads travelers about where the Oakland airport was located, violates the trademark for the SF name, and could confuse passengers into thinking they were flying into SFO.
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U.S. District Judge Thomas Hixson agreed with this position and issued a temporary injunction blocking Oakland Airport from using San Francisco in its name as the case is reviewed further.
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SFO 'widely known' among travelers, industry: U.S. judge
"As a result of San Francisco's marketing efforts and the recognitions SFO has received for its services, the name and trademark San Francisco International Airport is widely known among air travelers and within the travel industry," Hixson writes in the ruling.
He ordered Oakland Airport to remove any signage with the name that it has put up.
The ruling explains that San Francisco has spent decades working with its airport to develop different names from the original Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco, to San Francisco Airport in 1931, and San Francisco International Airport in 1954.
The Port of Oakland, the authority that's pushed for the airport-name change over the past two years and is a defendant in the suit, said the order “temporarily blocks OAK’s new name on the basis of the third type of alleged confusion: that travelers may think OAK is affiliated with SFO.”
Oakland mulls options after judge's ruling
The agency said it was considering its options, which could include reverting to the name Oakland International Airport or continuing the legal fight with an appeal.
When it was first weighing the name change, Port of Oakland cited data showing that a third of travelers did not associate Oakland as being close to San Francisco.
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It also said that 30,000 jobs could be protected or created if Oakland Airport became more popular with out-of-town travelers as a hub for flying into the city.
“Adding ‘San Francisco Bay’ to the name will improve travelers’ geographic awareness of the airport and help us reach and succeed in new markets,” Barbara Leslie, who heads the Oakland Board of Commissioners and was another driving force behind the name change, said in April 2024.
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