July will welcome added air travel opportunities for Bay Area residents and visitors as airlines increase capacity at Oakland International Airport (OAK). During the month, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and Volaris will each increase flights at OAK after industry-wide declines caused by COVID-19.
Hawaiian Airlines is scheduled to resume daily nonstop service to Honolulu, Lihue, and Kahului on July 28 after several months’ suspension. Volaris will reinstate service to Mexico City and Morelia, Mexico. Spirit Airlines will reinstate service to Chicago O'Hare (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Houston (IAH), and Los Angeles (LAX).
Southwest is expected to offer over 75 daily departures in July and will increase its schedule to more than 90 daily flights at OAK in August – representing approximately 75% of its Summer 2019 schedule. The expanded service scheduled to be introduced in July and August has resulted in today’s reopening of Gates 29-32 in Terminal 2, which had been closed since May. Additional retail and dining opportunities will also be available in Terminal 2 to serve the growing number of passengers.
Passenger traffic experienced a steep decline in March 2020. In April, the Airport’s traffic totaled only 4% of its year-ago activity, and just 9% in May. July and August should see strong passenger growth when compared to May 2020. Weekend service on routes such as Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Ontario International Airport (ONT), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and Long Beach Airport (LGB) will see increases in frequency.
Additionally, this month Southwest intends to resume its full schedule of service to Hawaii which will include the existing twice-daily service to Honolulu (HNL) and reintroduction of twice-daily service Kahului (OGG) along with the return of nonstop service to both Lihue (LIH) and Kona (KOA).
