British Airways added San Jose-London service last spring with a new 787-9. (Image: British Airways)
Mineta San Jose International Airport is entering a real boom period, with both domestic and international airlines adding new routes right and left. With a growing regional population and a perfect location as the gateway to one of the world’s biggest technology hubs, Mineta San Jose is well positioned for continued growth into the 21st century.
That technology hub, of course, is Silicon Valley. Some of the world’s leading tech giants have offices no more than a dozen miles from SJC, including companies like Apple, Google, Symantec, Intel, Cisco, Adobe Systems, Netflix, SanDisk and many more. Not only is a trip to Mineta San Jose a fraction of the distance to San Francisco International Airport for these companies, but SJC’s smaller size makes the airport experience less hectic for passengers (through the first nine months of 2016, SJC boarded fewer than 4 million passengers, vs. almost 20 million at SFO).
With all those business travelers close by, and with its fast-growing, high-income population (San Jose is the 10th largest city in the 
U.S., and its metropolitan area has a median household income of $100,385), it’s not surprising that airlines are eager to accommodate that market.
Lufthansa uses an A340-300 on its new San Jose-Frankfurt route. (Image: BriYYZ/Wikimedia Commons)
In recent months, Mineta San Jose has attracted new routes from several international airlines, among them:
- Lufthansa this past summer began flying non-stop to Frankfurt five times a week, using a 298-passenger, three-class A340-300. Through its Frankfurt hub, the German carrier offers connections to 100 cities in Europe and beyond.
- British Airways last spring kicked off the first non-stop service from SJC to London Heathrow, using a brand-new, 216-passenger, four-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. It’s BA’s fourth destination in California, along with Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
- In September, Air China launched a new transpacific route from SJC to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, making San Jose the airline’s 10th North American gateway. The Chinese carrier uses a two-class, 237-seat Airbus A330-200 to fly the new route three days a week. SJC Aviation Director Kim Becker said the new route is expected to bring $65 million a year in economic investment to the San Jose area.
- It’s not as far away, but another new international destination for SJC that started this year is Vancouver. Air Canada last spring kicked off twice-daily service between the two cities, using Bombardier CRJ-705s. Airport officials noted that Vancouver is sometimes called Silicon Valley North, since more than 200 Silicon Valley companies have offices there.
While the Lufthansa and British Airways flights represented SJC’s most recent transatlantic non-stops, it already offered transpacific service to Tokyo with All Nippon Airways (ANA) and to Beijing with Hainan Airlines.
Alaska, Southwest, United and JetBlue are all growing at SJC. (Image: Jim Glab)
New domestic routes are also proliferating. San Jose got another new transcontinental flight last month, when Southwest Airlines began a daily roundtrip to Baltimore/Washington International. At the same time, Southwest also started new twice-daily SJC-Salt Lake City service. And American Airlines this past summer added daily seasonal service between SJC and its Charlotte hub.
In March of next year, both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines are set to begin new daily non-stops from SJC to Newark Liberty International, and United will start twice-daily flights from SJC to its big Chicago O’Hare hub as well. In mid-May, Delta will add a third daily SJC-Atlanta flight.
Intra-California traffic is also booming, attracting new service in the California corridor. Last summer, Alaska Airlines started flying three times a day from SJC to both San Diego and Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. And on January 4, JetBlue will kick off SJC-Long Beach service, offering four daily roundtrips, followed by three daily Alaska Airlines flights to Burbank beginning in mid-March.
You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.
This post is sponsored by Mineta San Jose International Airport
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Amen. I’ve even missed a flight due to the Security line at Terminal B. Also, I fly into SJC once or twice a month and I’ve NEVER encountered the Pre-Check lanes open — not once. Granted, most of my departures (returning home) are in the late afternoon or early evening but there’s still plenty of traffic at those times.
One hack that Ive found is to clear Security on the Terminal A side even when my departure is from Terminal B. The Southwest passengers overwhelm the B Security line, and A has fewer departures late in the day. Since discovering this I’ve never waited more than a couple of minutes in line — usually I just walk right up to the lonely TSA staffer because there’s no one there! Even after hiking across the connecting bridge (five minute walk, max) I’ve saved many minutes and limitless anxiety.
I think it also depends which airline you use at SFO. Due to Terminal 1 construction, Delta basically has its own mini-terminal and security area. I’m thinking I will start flying domestic out of there vs. SJC…at least until the summer fog returns.
(United, on the other hand…)
Plus, SJC only has one lounge for all airlines. Meh. I was just in Nashville, with a far smaller metro population, and even it had a SkyClub.
Now I remember once waiting to depart because half the plane was empty (DL flight to Seattle) — everyone was stuck in security. In those ensuing minutes, Seattle issued a ground delay. Frustrating times all around.
I forgot about the number of times that I drove to the Economy lot last minute, to find it full…and having to scramble to find an offsite lot. They have it listed as Economy Lot 1, so I hope there’s a Lot 2 waiting to be opened.
What I do like is the free bus to Caltrain. Beats the overpriced (and rarely well-timed) BART from SFO, and is more convenient for Peninsula dwellers.
I loathe the security line at SJC. The few times that I flew out of the airport, screening line was ridiculously long. The longest wait was close to 40 minutes. Even though I live in Cupertino and SJC by fair is closer than SFO, it seems that SFO has been far more trouble free.
Looks like it’s on the schedule thru Nov, so year-round.
A. Shortly after Noon, the dedicated PreCheck line closes and you go through regular security with the little ticket that lets you keep shoes on. First time this happened was a Noonish flight to ATL. Got caught up with all the Air China passengers, with only two security lanes open. Barely made the flight.
Even a couple of weeks ago, it took 15 minutes to get through security for a 6 PM flight to LAX. So understaffed that bags just piled up for secondary inspection, and nobody seemed to care. In fact, staff kept wandering off for a break and shrugged.
I certainly remember SJC being insanely crowded during the dot-com era, which would explain security chaos back then. But it’s never really crowded post-security in the afternoons and evenings. Seems like a staffing problem to me. (Or maybe I’ve just been unlucky…)
Weird, I’ve never had a long wait. Which terminal?
Now if only SJC security can keep up with the demand…the past few flights have been a disaster in terms of wait time. And that’s with PreCheck and Clear!
The 3rd SJC-ATL, is it seasonal or year round?