The Bay Area Is the 3rd Largest U.S. Air Service Market, ahead of 

all except New York and Los Angeles 

Domestic and International O&D Passengers 

Source: U.S. Domestic and International O&D Survey and International T100 (Foreign Flag Carriers), Year Ended 3Q2008

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-101
Source: Airport Reports

Passenger Growth at 15 Largest U.S. Airports Between 2007 and 2008

SFO is Growing Faster than Any Large U.S Airport, Including Los Angeles,

in Combined Domestic and International Travel

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-102
SFO’s Superior Connectivity Throughout North America

Enhances its Large Origin/Destination Market

Nonstop SFO Service to 75 Destinations Covers Nearly Three-Quarters of U.S. Air Travel Market

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-103
The SFO Hub Offers Frequent, Convenient Nonstop Connections 

to All Major West Coast Markets 

Summer 2009

Destinations Daily Non-stops

Los Angeles 40 

Las Vegas 24

Orange County/Long Beach 23 

San Diego 22

Seattle 18

Denver 17

Phoenix 15

Salt Lake City 10

Portland 9

Hawaiian Islands 14 

Anchorage, Alaska 1 (Summer) 

Vancouver 8 

Calgary 6 

Toronto 5

Edmonton 3

Victoria 2

Montreal 1

Mexico City 4 

Puerto Vallarta 3

San Jose del Cabo 2

Guadalajara 1 

Cancun 1 (weekly)

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-104
International Passengers Prefer Connecting at SFO

The Airport Is Designed to Make Travel Options Happen Seamlessly

Within the Airport –

• All airline connections are quick and convenient, using SFO’s free AirTrain people-mover system.

• “Walk times” between airline connections are from 5 to 15 minutes.

• All terminals are physically connected and “under one roof” with special sterile connecting corridors 

between domestic and international terminals.

• SFO’s state-of-the-art baggage screening and spacious Customs facilities cut “wait time” for 

international passengers.

Outside the Airport –

• Easy connections to downtown San Francisco on the BART metro system departing every 15 minutes 

from its stop inside the SFO terminal. 

• Car or bus average travel time downtown is 25 minutes, 40 minutes to Silicon Valley. 

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-105
Air Travelers Prefer San Francisco Airport

Ratings by Air Travelers in 2008 Zagat Survey (Higher is Better)

Source: Zagat Guides

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-106
The Bay Area Is a Uniquely International Air Market 

Residents Have Strong Proclivity, and Ability, to Travel Abroad 

The Bay Area has the Nation’s Most Diverse International Population:

• More than a third (35.7%) of Bay Area residents are foreign born, more than double the U.S. average. 

• Asian-born residents are nearly one-third (32.5%) of San Francisco’s population

• Nearly four dozen languages are spoken in the Bay Area

The Bay Area has an unusual proportion of travel-ready Baby Boomers:

• 43.5% are in the 35-to-64 year age bracket which accounts for most air travel, compared to 29% for 

the U.S. overall. (Average age is 38.5)

Bay Area residents are far better educated and wealthier than the overall population:

• Some 44% have post-secondary degrees, compared to 31% in the U.S. generally

• Average Bay Area income is 41.3 % higher than U.S. average 

San Francisco has three times as many foreign consulates (77) per capita than Los Angeles. 

More than 30,000 foreign students study in Bay Area universities. 

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-107
Among Large U.S. Metropolitan Areas, San Francisco Has the 

2nd Highest Propensity to Travel Internationally

Note: Traveler Propensity measured by dividing number of International Passengers by Population

Source: Woods & Poole Economics 2008 Estimate, U.S. International O&D Survey and International T100 (Foreign Flag Carriers) for Year Ended 3q2008

Ratio of International Passengers Per Capita

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-108
San Francisco Has the 2nd Highest Median Household Income

in the U.S., and the Highest on the West Coast

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey

Median Household Income (2007 Estimate)

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-109
Among Major Western U.S. Metropolitan Areas, San Francisco Has the Highest 

Percentage of Households with Over $100,000 Income 

Percent of Households with Income Exceeding $100,000

(2007 Estimate) 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey

Nearly 80% of all discretionary income in the U.S. is controlled by such well-to-do households.

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-110
Bay Area Residents Spend More on Personal Air Travel

The San Francisco Bay Area per capita spending on air travel is significantly

higher than for California and the U.S. as a whole . . .

Expenditure for Airline Fares

Annual Consumer

Expenditure for

Airline Fares

Per Capita Consumer

Expenditure for 

Airline Fares Area

San Francisco Bay Area $2,110,111,000 $291

Los Angeles Area $2,727,787,000 $209

California $7,701,367,000 $213

United States $45,968,000,000 $156

Note: Estimated expenditures made by consumers for their personal—not business use.

. . . and nearly 40% higher than for residents of the Los Angeles area.

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-111
San Francisco Has the Most Highly Educated Population 

Among Major Western Cities 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey

Percent of Population Aged 25 and Over with College Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-112
San Francisco Has the 2nd Most Highly Educated Population Of All U.S. Cities 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2007 American Community Survey

Percent of Population Age 25 and Over with College Bachelor’s Degree or Higher

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-113
The Bay Area’s Remarkable Economic Base

With annual gross regional product nearing U.S.$460 billion, the 

Bay Area is home to 29 of the Fortune 500. 

. 

More than half of these world-class firms are in cutting-edge, technology-based industries.

1)Chevron

2)Hewlett-Packard

3) McKesson

4) Wells Fargo

5) Safeway

6) Intel

7) Cisco Systems

8) Apple

9) Oracle

10) Google

11) Gap

12) Sun Microsystems

13) Pacific Gas & Electric Corporation

14) Samnia-SCI

15) Applied Materials

16) Calpine

17) eBay

18) Synnex

19) Yahoo

20) Franklin Resources

21) Charles Schwab

22) Advanced Micro Devices

23) Ross Stores

24) Agilent Technologies

25) URS

26) CVS/Longs Drug Stores

27) Symantec

28) Clorox

29) Robert Half International

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-114
The Bay Area: The Heart of Global High-Tech

As the U.S. hub of tomorrow’s knowledge-based industries, the Bay Area has:

 Over 15,500 firms in information technology, biosciences, and innovation services

 Over 43 percent of California’s IT manufacturing and service jobs

 Over 37 percent of all United States Life Science companies, responsible for a quarter million employees and $6 

billion in annual wages

According to Business Week magazine, 11 of the 100 best-performing 

information technology companies in the world are located in the Bay Area. 

Information Technology 100

1

2

2

3

4

11

Chicago

Connecticut

Washington D.C.

New York

Los Angeles

Bay Area/Silicon Valley

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-115
The Bay Area’s World-Class Research and Educational Institutions 

Underlie its Economic Strength and Resilience

• Home to 20 of the world’s most renowned scientific research centers, including five of the six largest federal 

laboratories -- the University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, 

Sandia National Laboratory, and the NASA Ames Research Center

• Bay Area institutions are global leaders in “enabling” technologies that converge biosciences, information 

technology, and nanotechnology.

• More top-ranked graduate programs in selected business, law, medicine, and engineering fields than any 

other comparable U.S. region. 

San Francisco Bay Area Education and Research Institutions

Institution Location

Stanford University Palo Alto

Sandia National Laboratories/California Livermore

University of California San Francisco San Francisco

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore

University of California Berkeley Berkeley

U.S. Geological Survey Menlo Park

NASA Ames Research Center Mountain View

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley

SRI International Palo Alto

Santa Clara University Santa Clara

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Palo Alto

San Jose State University San Jose

Joint Genome Institute Walnut Creek

Hoover Institution, Stanford University Palo Alto

Lick Observatory, University of California San Jose/Santa Cruz

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-116
The Heart of U.S. Venture Capital Investment

Nearly half (over 47 percent) of all U.S. venture capital is invested in the Bay Area.

This is more than three times as much as the next region, New England, 

and more than five times the Los Angeles area.

2008 Venture Capital Investment ($ billions)

$1,160

$1,216

$1,240

$1,283

$1,347

$1,879

$1,994

$3,260

$10,980

Northwest

San Diego

Southeast

Texas

Midwest 

New York Metro

Los Angeles Metro 

Boston/New England

Bay Area/Silicon Valley

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-117
The Bay Area Remains a Center of Global Tourism 

and a Magnet for Foreign Visitors 

San Francisco Became the Third Most Visited U.S. City by Overseas Travelers in 2008,

Up from Fourth in 2007 (depicted below), With More Than Six Times Seattle’s Overseas Visitors.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce

Top Cities Visited by Overseas Travelers in 2007 (millions)

“Best City in North America” according to Conde Nast Traveler Magazine (so named18 of last 19 years). 

Second Best City in North America and Tenth Best in the World, according to Travel & Leisure’s “World’s Best” 

Awards, 2008 

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-118
SFO Is Among the World’s Best Airports – For Travelers 

• Designed for convenient connections to and from domestic flights , all under one roof.

• AirTrain “people-mover” monorail connects all terminals every three minutes with parking garages, central Rental 

Car Center. 

• Regional light rail/metro (BART) station located right at the international terminal departures level affords 25-

minute access to downtown San Francisco and rapid access to Silicon Valley. 

• Some 13,000 square meters of concession space includes quality retail stores, award-winning restaurants 

(including local branches of popular eateries), an art museum and aviation library, banks, a medical facility, and 

even a European-style spa. 

• Among the shortest security average wait times of large U.S. hub airports. In 2008, peak period wait times were 

just under 8 minutes; non-peak period wait times were 2-3 minutes.

• High-speed wireless internet access throughout the airport; “most tech-friendly” U.S. airport according to 

Consumer Electronics.

• World-class premium airline lounges and clubs, including shower facilities and business centers.

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-119
SFO Consistently Voted Best U.S. Airport

Named “Best Airport in North America” in 2008 by Skytrax, the aviation industry’s leading 

independent quality research organization, based on extensive passenger surveys and a detailed 

appraisal.

Awarded IATA’s prestigious Eagle Award (only the third time in history the award has gone to a 

U.S. airport) in recognition of “outstanding performance in providing value for money to airlines, 

continuous improvement, and a high level of customer satisfaction”.

Other worldwide recognition for SFO:

• Best Airport in North America – Business Traveller, Germany

• Best U.S. Airport for Business Travelers – Arthur Frommer, MSNBC

• Best Airport in America – Executive Travel Magazine

• Exceptional Performance in Airport Security – Airports Council Int’l.

• Best Concession Program in North America and Best Airport Restaurants by 

Airport Revenue News

DOT-OST-2010-0018

Exhibit SFO-R-120