San Francisco International Airport is an international airport located in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, California, United States, about south of San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Oceania.
SFO is the largest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area and the second-busiest in California, after Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In 2017, it was the seventh-busiest airport in the United States and the 24th-busiest in the world by passenger count. It is the fifth-largest hub for United Airlines, functioning as the airline's primary transpacific gateway, and is a major maintenance hub. It also serves as a hub for Alaska Airlines.
The airport is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco and lies in a ZIP code assigned to San Francisco. However, it is located outside of San Francisco in unincorporated San Mateo County. Between 1999 and 2004, the San Francisco Airport Commission operated city-owned SFO Enterprises, Inc., to oversee its business purchases and operations of ventures.
History
The City and County of San Francisco first leased at the present airport site on March 15, 1927, for what was then to be a temporary and experimental airport project. San Francisco held a dedication ceremony at the airfield, officially named the Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco, on May 7, 1927, on the 150-acre cow pasture. The land was leased from the Mills Estate in an agreement made with Ogden L. Mills who oversaw the large tracts of property originally acquired by his grandfather, the banker Darius O. Mills. San Francisco purchased the property and the surrounding area expanding the site to beginning in August 1930. The airport's name was officially changed to San Francisco Airport in 1931 upon the purchase of the land. "International" was added at the end of World War II as overseas service rapidly expanded.
Early operations
The earliest scheduled carriers at the airport included Western Air Express, Maddux Air Lines, and Century Pacific Lines. United Airlines was formed in 1934 and quickly became the key carrier at the airport, with Douglas DC-3 service to Los Angeles and New York beginning in January 1937. A new passenger terminal opened in 1937, built with Public Works Administration funding. The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows 18 airline departures on weekdays—seventeen United flights and one TWA flight. The August 1952 chart shows runway 1L 7,000 feet long, 1R 7,750 feet, 28L 6,500 feet, and 28R 8,870 feet.
In addition to United, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines flew between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1933; the Bellanca CH-300s flew San Francisco–San Jose–Salinas–Monterey–Paso Robles–San Luis Obispo–Santa Maria–Santa Barbara–Los Angeles. Competition with United led Pacific Seaboard to move all of its operations to the eastern U.S., and rename itself Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S). It became a large domestic and international air carrier. Chicago & Southern was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953, giving Delta its first international routes. Delta used the route authority inherited from C&S to fly one of its first international services operated with Convair 880 jet aircraft from San Francisco to Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Caracas, Venezuela, via intermediate stops in Dallas and New Orleans in 1962.
World War II
During World War II, the airport was used as a Coast Guard base and Army Air Corps training and staging base. The base was called Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Mills Field and Coast Guard Air Station, San Francisco. Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), which had operated international flying boat service from Treasure Island, had to move its Pacific and Alaska seaplane operations to SFO in 1944 after Treasure Island was expropriated for use as a military base. Pan Am began service from SFO after World War II with five weekly flights to Honolulu, one of which continued to Canton Island, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Auckland.
International operations
The first service by foreign carriers was on Australian National Airways (ANA) Douglas DC-4s flown by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines: Sydney–Auckland–Fiji–Kanton Island–Honolulu–San Francisco–Vancouver, BC. The first flight left Australia on September 15, 1946. In 1947 Pan American World Airways began its "round the world" flights from SFO to Guam, Japan, the Philippines, China and other countries; Pan Am also flew to Sydney from SFO. The year 1947 saw the start of United Airlines Douglas DC-6 flights to Hawaii and Philippine Airlines flights to Manila.