Now It’s the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport? SFO Still Isn’t Happy

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but SFO is not buying it.

After Oakland’s airport announced last month it would change its name for a second time in just over a year amid a legal battle with San Francisco, the city across the bay still isn’t satisfied.

Port of Oakland officials say the latest rebrand — which changes its official title from “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport” to “Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport” — puts its East Bay roots first. The city of San Francisco, however, has the same problem with the new name as it did with the one Oakland adopted last year, which it alleges infringes on SFO’s trademark privileges.

“The Oakland San Francisco Bay name is just more of the same,” San Francisco International Airport spokesperson Doug Yakel said during public comment at a heated Oakland port commissioners meeting on Thursday afternoon, where the board unanimously approved the second name change.

“Once again, the port has chosen to ignore the city’s rights and the interests of travelers, and the end result will be detrimental to the public,” Yakel said. “Once again, the port has chosen to surprise the city of San Francisco with this latest renaming announcement barely over a week before voting on it.”

Yakel’s comments came after San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu’s office released a statement accusing the Port of Oakland of continuing to try to capitalize on SFO’s international reputation. When he took the public comment podium, commission president Michael Colbruno shot back, welcoming him with faux niceties.

“Welcome across San Francisco Bay,” he said to laughs from around the meeting room.

In his comments before the vote, Colbruno slammed SFO as hypocritical and disingenuous, reminding meeting attendees that San Francisco International is actually located in Millbrae — which, he said, is only considered inside the bounds of San Francisco “because you guys got a little carve-out.”

“In 1927, the San Francisco airport in Millbrae was named Mills Field,” Colbruno said. “They changed the name because people didn’t know where Mills Field and Millbrae was.

“I just want to be crystal clear, so you can come here and ask about our name change when you did the exact same thing,” he continued. “It’s really upsetting to me … to bring that kind of elitism over here and to talk about us, when you think you’re special and privileged.”

Tension between the airports has built since the Port of Oakland, which operates the city’s airport, announced in a video message last March that the “Metropolitan Oakland International Airport” would be renamed the “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.” The move was meant to improve the public’s geographic awareness and increase the number of flights in and out of the East Bay airport, port officials said.

After the first name change was approved by Port of Oakland commissioners in April 2024, it was quickly slapped with a lawsuit from Chiu and the city of San Francisco, which operates SFO.

In the suit, Chiu wrote that the Port of Oakland failed to give San Francisco officials reasonable notice of the coming change and said the move was an escalation of years of “jabs” Oakland’s airport has made toward SFO.

“Oakland has perceived itself to be in a rivalry with [San Francisco] over airlines and passengers,” Chiu wrote in legal documents. “Oakland’s fixation on and negativity toward SFO is exemplified by a pre-pandemic video ad campaign titled ‘Inferiority Complex,’ which features ‘stereotypical’ San Franciscans touting the superiority of the Oakland airport.”

For another event with airline partners, OAK also made custom fortune cookies containing paper slips that read “SFO? Just say no,” according to the suit.

The Port of Oakland counter-sued San Francisco in May, asking a judge to rule that its new name was not a trademark infringement.

Both of those suits are pending, and in the meantime, each side is growing increasingly hostile.

The Oakland airport was temporarily blocked from calling itself “San Francisco Bay Oakland International” after a judge granted SFO a preliminary injunction in November. While the Port of Oakland continues to appeal that injunction, officials last month unveiled the second name change.

“This year’s name, like last year’s name, invites traveler confusion and risks jeopardizing the brand identity we have built through decades of investment and service to the region,” Jen Kwart, spokesperson for the San Francisco city attorney’s office, said in a statement ahead of the Port of Oakland’s Thursday meeting.

It’s unclear whether San Francisco plans to pursue further litigation in response to the now-approved name.

Kwart said the office was still assessing next steps, adding that since the city’s original suit is now tied up with a preliminary injunction appeal, “we can’t drop the lawsuit right now even if we wanted to.”

A trial for that suit is set for August 2026.

“My advice to you is let it be for the benefit of the whole region,” Colbruno said to Yakel. “It’s a benefit to travelers; it’s to the benefit of people coming to the East Bay, who may be going to Livermore or Berkeley or Napa — or San Francisco, which is actually closer [to Oakland] than Millbrae.”