Oakland airport tops 1 million passengers, marking post-COVID recovery

OAKLAND — Oakland International Airport handled more than 1 million passengers in June, marking the first time the aviation hub topped the million-passenger benchmark since coronavirus-linked business shutdowns began more than two years ago.

The East Bay airport handled 1.06 million passengers in June, aviation officials reported Monday.

The June activity marked the first time since December 2019 that at least 1 million passengers traveled through the aviation complex.

“The recovery of passenger traffic at Oakland International Airport remains strong,” said Bryant Francis, the Port of Oakland’s director of aviation.

The June 2022 totals were 29.9% higher than the number of passengers that Oakland handled in June 2021, when approximately 815,900 air travelers transited through the aviation hub.

Despite the rebound, the Oakland airport’s latest passenger totals were 7% below the December 2019 total of 1.14 million passengers.

The 1.06 million passengers from June are also 13.8% below the all-time high for the airport of 1.23 million passengers handled in July 2019.

Oakland airport officials, however, anticipate the airport’s passenger totals are set to soar as the summer progresses and the holiday flying season beckons.

“Based on performance seen so far this season, we expect this upward trend to continue through the balance of the summer travel season,” Francis said.

The milestone comes as the region’s two other major airports — San Francisco International and San Jose International — also see increases in passenger numbers, with more airlines launching domestic and international routes to woo travelers.