In their ongoing quest to put the words ‘San Francisco’ in their name, the Oakland airport recently floated the new name ‘Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.’ SFO officials have responded that they hate it, and they’re not pulling back their lawyers.
For more than a year now, Oakland International Airport has been desperately and inexplicably trying to change their name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, apparently hoping to drum up some additional business, if even this does (and already has) caused confusion for passengers who showed up at the wrong airport. SF City Attorney David Chiu sued the Oakland airport over this, winning a temporary injunction over the name change this past November. That case continues in the courts.
So just two weeks ago, the Port of Oakland that runs the Oakland airport proposed the all-too-cute idea of instead changing their name to Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, putting the word "Oakland” in front. This was apparently meant as an olive branch to deescalate the legal fight between the two airports. But as KTVU reports, SFO officials are still absolutely pissed at Oakland airport for their insistence on swiping the “San Francisco” name.
"We are disappointed that the Port of Oakland has yet again announced an airport rebrand that seeks to capitalize on the San Francisco International Airport’s globally recognized brand," SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told KTVU. "Once again, Oakland announced another renaming proposal just days prior to taking a vote instead of having a good-faith conversation with San Francisco."
Indeed, the Port of Oakland announced the name change just 14 days before they were scheduled to vote on it, and apparently did so with no consultation with SF International Airport. And there are clearly hard feelings, considering that Oakland is still pursuing their legal fight to get the “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” name. So as such, City Attorney Chiu’s office is not dropping their lawsuit.
"It’s not that simple—we can’t drop the lawsuit right now even if we wanted to," SF City Attorney Office spokesperson Jen Kwart said to KTVU. "Oakland is still fighting for last year’s name in court. Oakland chose to appeal the lower court’s preliminary injunction order in our favor that prevented them from using last year’s name. They appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit and are still actively pursuing that appeal. We have to defend and respond to that appeal."
The Port of Oakland is actually voting on the name change at a Thursday afternoon meeting today. As of press time for this post, that meeting is still in progress, and a decision has not yet been announced.
Note: This is a developing story and may be updated.
Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 04: An Alaska Airlines jet taxis at San Francisco International Airport on June 04, 2025 in San Francisco, California. Alaska Airlines is delaying the delivery of two Embraer E175 planes from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, and says it will not accept additional costs imposed by tariffs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
