Oakland Ranked Best Airport in Nation for On-Time Arrivals

For the second month in a row, Oakland International Airport was ranked the top airport in the nation for on-time arrivals. According to the website flightstats.com, 88.3% of all flights into Oakland arrived on time in February, 88.7% in January. The top spot ranking for Oakland airport was made after Flightstats examined data for 40 major airports throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Oakland to Seattle $111 "all in" Through May 2009

HOT FARE!  

The cost to fly between the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle has really come down in the past couple weeks. Previously, fares of $69 each way were considered a steal.  Recently though, low fares of just $49 each way were available out of SFO on Virgin America and United, but were limited to travel through December. Today, Southwest and Alaska Airlines released some of the lowest fares we've seen in quite a while:

Fly Oakland to Seattle non-stop for just $45 each way + tax on Southwest Airlines.  This fare is available seven days a week through the end of their schedule - May 8, 2009.  Alaska Airlines is available for $4 more round-trip  

Airline Cutbacks Arriving Soon At Oakland

Many airlines, forced to shrink capacity, are thinning routes or even dropping them entirely from their route map. Oakland Airport has been hit particularly with the downturn in the industry. The following is a recap of announced cutbacks for the next few months at Oakland International:

• American Airlines will cease Oakland operations on September 2nd. The airline has daily non-stops to its Dallas hub.
• Continental Airlines will also end operations the next day, September 3rd. It operates flights to its Houston hub.
• United Airlines, which operates daily flights to Los Angeles will end on November 2nd.
• Southwest will drop its daily non-stop to Tucson, effective November 3rd.
• Taca Airlines, operating a daily flight to San Salvador will end on September 1st.
• ExpressJet will end flights to Salt Lake City on September 1st.

American to eliminate Oakland flights

According to a spokesman from Oakland International Airport, American Airlines will be cancelling all flights from the airport beginning September 3rd. According to the spokesperson, eliminating Oakland flights is part of a larger plan to reduce the airlines domestic flying by 5 percent.

American Airlines represented only 1 percent of Oakland International's total aviation revenue. But, American's move to withdraw from Oakland follows on the heels of ATA, Aloha and Skybus Airlines who abruptly ended operations last month, affecting thousands of Oakland flyers.

American says it will accommodate affected passengers by using flights currently operated through San Francisco or San Jose Airports, where a broader network of American flights is available.

Some content obtained from the San Jose Mercury News