Mineta San José International Airport Traffic Passes Pandemic Recovery Milestone

More than 1M passengers flew through Silicon Valley’s Airport in May 2022

San José, Calif. – A total of 1,009,203 passengers flew to, from or through Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) in May, representing the first month passenger traffic surpassed the one million mark since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The total passenger activity at SJC in May was nearly double the 589,554 passengers who used the Airport in May 2021. In total, SJC passenger traffic grew by more than 116 percent during the first five months of 2022 compared to the same period last year. Total take-offs and landings by scheduled passenger carriers were up nearly 60 percent over the first five months year-over-year.

“Crossing the one million mark, though still short of the record numbers we saw just prior to the Pandemic, puts SJC back in the range of monthly activity that we saw as recently as 2018 – and well on our way to recovery,” said SJC Director of Aviation John Aitken. “After nearly two years of watching our Airport terminals slowly get busier and busier, May’s traffic numbers certainly feel like a milestone to celebrate.”

SJC’s airfield and terminals were not the only Airport facilities that saw an increase in traffic. The total number of Airport parking transactions jumped by more than 45 percent in May over the same month in 2021, while parking exits for the period from January through May were up by more than 72 percent compared to the same period last year.

While SJC’s passenger traffic continues to grow, airlines are also boosting service from Silicon Valley’s Airport with new routes and additional frequencies. British Airways recently restarted its daily, nonstop flights connecting San José and London, while Japanese low-cost carrier ZIPAIR announced it plans to start service between San José and Tokyo in December. Meanwhile, Southwest began new service to Eugene, Oregon, earlier this month and announced a new route to Palm Springs starting this fall. Southwest has also added significant summer capacity on popular routes to and from SJC up and down the Pacific coast, with up to 20 daily nonstop flights between San José and San Diego alone.

More details regarding SJC’s May 2022 activity, along with an archive of the Airport’s monthly Activity Reports, are now available on the Airport’s website at flysanjose.com/airport-activity.