Oakland International Airport welcomes return to operations

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland International Airport re-opened for commercial airline flights at 7:00 p.m. today. Airport staff and partners spent the last three days carefully working out detailed compliance with new FAA safety and security regulations that were issued on Wednesday.

Individual airlines will determine when they will schedule flights in and out of the airport. Some flights were expected to begin this evening.

The airport parking lots and car rental businesses, which had been closed since hours after the national air traffic shutdown was ordered on Tuesday morning, were opened at 2:30 p.m. Persons who had been unable to retrieve their cars from airport parking lots because of the shutdown are being given a form to use to obtain a refund of the parking fees that accrued during the time they were not allowed retrieve their cars.

A full complement of airport staff was on hand to help passengers begin flying again. Additional airport Ambassadors, clad in red Oakland International Airport jackets, were on site and prepared to assist passengers and their friends and families with their airport experience.

“I want to thank our patrons in advance for their understanding and their assistance as we adjust to new rules and new travel habits,” said Oakland Airport General Manager Bill Wade. “I also want to thank the hundreds of airport personnel and representatives of airlines and our other partners who have worked long hours since Tuesday, helping us find the best means available to meet the new standards of safety and security that we are working with today,” said Wade.

Airport users will find several new rules in place in Oakland, as in airports throughout the nation, the next time they fly. Among them:

Curbside check-in will no longer be permitted. Passengers must bring their bags to airline ticket counters for check-in. Only passengers with tickets or an explicit receipt for ticketless travel will be permitted beyond security checkpoints leading to the concourses where passengers arrive and depart to aircraft. Additional guidelines for safe flying can be found here. Those seeking information on flight schedules or the status of specific flights are urged to contact airlines directly, either by phone or by checking their respective Web sites.