In May 2024, officials in Oakland, California approved the requested name change of the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport. Now called the “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport”, the new name seems to be causing some confusion amongst would-be passengers.
Given the airport’s proximity to downtown San Francisco, Oakland officials felt that the new name would “strengthen and grow the airport”. They hoped the name change would encourage passengers to consider their airport as an alternative to get to the city versus flying in through San Francisco International Airport.
The change also solved the problem of passengers confusing Oakland (OAK) with the similar sounding Auckland (AKL) some 12,000 miles away in New Zealand.
The move did not go unopposed thought as officials from the city of San Francisco argued that the new name infringed on their trademark for the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and would cause confusion among the traveling public.
In an injunction filed in September by San Francisco city attorney David Chiu, he said:
“San Francisco has invested millions in making San Francisco International Airport the world-class airport it is today.
“We have built an incredible brand that we must protect. Oakland has a trademark for Oakland International Airport. It should use that and stay away from San Francisco’s brand.”
He also argued that since the name change, there have been multiple cases of travelers accidentally booking Oakland when they intended to fly to SFO itself. Even on Instagram, he noted that travelers were tagging the wrong airports on Instagram, with some at SFO tagging Oakland, and vice versa.
As part of the filing, they are demanding that Oakland revert to the older name, and also destroy or transfer physical and digital assets with the new name as they believe the city of Oakland is trying to capitalize of the popularity of the SFO-based airport name.
Credit: Bradley Wint/Gate CheckedDanny Wan, the executive director for the Port of Oakland, felt that the name change was warranted and not confusing as Oakland is on the other side of the San Francisco Bay, and mentioned that it would help reduce confusion with other airports such as Auckland Airport.
“I fail to see the confusion …. It clarifies to the world that OAK is on the San Francisco Bay. It does not confuse and leads to more nonstop option choices at the airport.
“This is not about San Francisco. We’re not trying to confuse or copy them.”
