arrived and departed at Bay Area airports in 2025
of freight moved in and out of Bay Area airports in 2025
In 2025, the number of passengers passing through Bay Area airports was 86% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019
Introduction
How busy are the region's airports?
Airports are critical gateways that connect the Bay Area to the rest of the world. Passenger activity reflects demand for business and leisure travel, while air cargo supports the movement of time-sensitive, high-value and perishable goods. Together, these measures provide insight into the region's economic activity and global connectivity.
Regional Performance
Over time, passenger travel at Bay Area airports has grown, while air freight volumes have varied from year to year.
Passenger activity at Bay Area airports generally increased between 1990 and 2019, reflecting the region's growing population, economy and connections to destinations around the world. Passenger volumes declined during the early 2000s dot-com downturn and the Great Recession, before reaching a record high in 2019. Air travel fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since recovered, although it remains below pre-pandemic peaks.
Air freight volumes have fluctuated since the early 2000s but have generally remained between 1.0 and 1.5 million metric tons per year. As gateways for both travelers and goods, Bay Area airports play an important role in regional mobility, commerce and economic activity.
arrived and departed at Bay Area airports in 2019, the highest annual total on record
of freight moved in and out of Bay Area airports in 2006, the highest annual total on record
Historical Trend for Airport Activity - All Airports
Regional Distribution
Passenger travel is concentrated at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), while air freight is more evenly distributed between SFO and Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK).
Since 1990, SFO has consistently handled the most passenger arrivals and departures at a Bay Area airport, typically accounting for two-thirds to three-quarters of the regional total. OAK's share grew through the 1990s and early 2000s before declining, while the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) experienced the opposite trend. The Charles M. Schultz – Sonoma County Airport (STS) has accounted for only a small share of regional passenger traffic.
Unlike passenger travel, air freight is more evenly distributed between SFO and OAK. Since the early 2000s, each airport has typically handled between 45% and 55% of the region's air cargo. SJC's share has declined over time, while STS does not handle air freight.
SFO accounted for 72.1% of all passenger arrivals and departures in the Bay Area in 2025
SFO accounted for 53.1% of all air freight passing through Bay Area airports in 2025
Historical Trend For Regional Airport Activity Share
Sources & Methodology
Airport activity data for the Bay Area's four commercial airports Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) and Charles M. Schultz – Sonoma County Airport (STS) comes from the U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) T-100 Segment database, which tracks every non-stop flight segment reported by carriers nationwide. Segments touching a Bay Area airport are extracted and rolled up into annual passenger and freight totals per airport, distinguishing arriving from departing traffic and reporting their sum as the headline measure of regional mobility and economic activity.
Only complete calendar years are reported, since recent BTS data, especially international flights, continues to fill in for several months after the fact. Santa Rosa had intermittent gaps in commercial service during the 1990s.
Air freight data is shown starting from 2003 because domestic all-cargo carriers were not required to report detailed traffic data to the BTS T-100 system before October 1, 2002, making earlier freight data incomplete.