With major U.S. airlines adding more flights at Mineta San Jose International this winter and spring, and with international flight options taking off, the airport has been making substantial improvements to handle increased passenger traffic.

New domestic flights starting in the first half of the New Year include:

• A new route for JetBlue between SJC and its Long Beach focus city, where it started operating four daily roundtrips during the first week of January.

• A pair of new nonstops for United Airlines, both starting March 9. United will begin twice-daily flights to its big hub at Chicago O’Hare, and one daily roundtrip to its East Coast hub at Newark Liberty International. United will use 737-800s on both routes.

• Staking a bigger claim in California, Alaska Airlines will inaugurate new transcontinental service on the SJC-Newark route on March 12, operating one daily roundtrip, followed by new intrastate service three times a day from San Jose to Hollywood-Burbank beginning March 16. These are the fourth and fifth new Alaska Airlines routes at SJC since late 2015, giving the carrier a total of 16 destinations.

• On May 1, Air Canada is due to add a third daily frequency between San Jose-Vancouver.

• American Airlines’ seasonal service between San Jose and Charlotte is set to resume May 5.

• Delta will boost its presence at San Jose beginning May 25, when it expands its schedule to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson from two flights a day to three.

• And Southwest will kick off daily San Jose-Reno service June 4.

You can find more details about new San Jose routes here.

Even without these new flights, SJC has been experiencing healthy growth in passenger numbers. Through the first 10 months of 2016, the domestic passenger count topped the 4 million mark, an increase of more than 7 percent year-over-year. And thanks to new flights across both the Atlantic and Pacific, international traffic at SJC jumped more than 68 percent during that period.

New and improved passenger amenities at Mineta San Jose make life easier for travelers. The three-year-old Club at SJC in Terminal A, a lounge open to all travelers on a paid basis and also a part of the Priority Pass network of airport lounges, was recently named the Priority Pass Airport Lounge of the Year for North America.

International travelers at SJC are finding their lives a little easier thanks to recent improvements that help them to speed through passenger processing. Many domestic travelers rely on TSA’s PreCheck program to move through security screening more quickly, but now some international travelers at San Jose can also take advantage of that benefit: Lufthansa – which began San Jose-Frankfurt flights last summer – recently became the first European airline to begin participation in PreCheck.

International travelers at SJC can now download Customs and Border Protection’s free Mobile Passport Control app on their phones or tablets and use it to submit their passport data and Customs declaration form to CBP. A coded electronic receipt shown to the CBP officer lets them move quickly through the arrivals process. And the airport also offers CBP’s Global Entry kiosks for international arrivals who belong to that trusted traveler program, allowing them to bypass lines. Also available at SJC are Automated Passport Control kiosks where arriving travelers can submit their entry information.

And more enhancements are on the way. This spring, the airport is expected to finish a renovation of its International Arrivals Building that will add 5,600 square feet along with a second baggage carousel and an enclosed waiting area.

On a lighter note, Mineta San Jose has garnered attention and acclaim for its recent deployment of three interactive customer service robots – an appropriate innovation for an airport that serves as the gateway to Silicon Valley. Even more interactive robots – smaller ones – are featured in the airport’s new play area for children in Terminal B.

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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