Oakland Airport has been seeking ways to boost its profile among travelers, and on Friday the Port of Oakland announced that it was considering a name change to incorporate "San Francisco" into the name. And officials at SFO are not having it.

Oakland International Airport, whose official name is Metropolitan Oakland International Airport, has been having something of an identity crisis for a while now. Hoodline reported last summer that officials at the Port of Oakland, which oversees the airport, were mulling a potential rebrand of the airport to raise awareness of its proximity to San Francisco and the Bay.

The Port conducted a survey of airline passengers that found a majority were not aware of how close Oakland Airport is to SF. And Port spokeswoman Marilyn Sandifur told the Chronicle last year, "The airport is considering many ways to overcome this problem, including a rebrand campaign that may add a geographic identifier in our name to help inbound passengers understand the airport’s proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area."

Barbara Leslie, president of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners, announced in a video message Friday, seen below, that the board would be considering a name change on April 11 to address this issue.

"We consistently hear from local travelers in our community about their desire for more direct flights to a wider variety of domestic and global destinations out of Oakland," Leslie said. "To make this happen, we must improve the geographic awareness among inbound travelers to the region."

The solution the board will consider is changing the airport's name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. The airport limited replies on its tweet about the name change, and that was probably wise — because there has been a fair amount of online chuckling over the absurdity of this already.

State Senator Scott Wiener posted to X Saturday, saying, "I love Oakland, but Oakland is Oakland. It’s not San Francisco. Oakland’s airport should not be cutting & pasting San Francisco International Airport into its name. Please find another way to turn things around."

San Francisco International Airport put out a press release Monday saying that officials have "serious concerns" about Oakland Airport's proposed renaming and the "potential for customer confusion and disservice." The release notes that SFO has used the San Francisco name since 1927.

"Given this history, we anticipate the new name being considered by the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport will cause confusion for the public, either through a misunderstanding of its physical location or its perceived relationship to SFO," says Airport director Ivar Satero. "This concern is only compounded considering SFO's status as a major international gateway."

Satero continued, "We request the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport not proceed with any name change that would incorporate the use of 'San Francisco', as this would only result in confusion and inconvenience to the traveling public we all serve."

As KPIX rightly notes, San Francisco International Airport is also, technically, not in San Francisco, despite using the name for nearly 100 years. It is in San Mateo County, though is under the city of San Francisco's jurisdiction.

The Port of Oakland has yet to respond to SFO's statements.

In recent years, another airport in the region, the Stockton Metropolitan Airport, proposed its own name change to the San Francisco-Stockton Regional Airport. That was in 2017, and SFO officials responded similarly to that proposal.

Previously: Stockton Airport Wants To Add 'San Francisco' To Its Name, SFO Says 'No Way'

Photo by Anna Gru