The airport is the smallest of the three Bay Area airports offering scheduled service, with approximately one third the passengers of the region's major international airport San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and slightly smaller than Oakland International Airport (OAK). Like Oakland airport, it attracts suburban residents too distant from SFO, as well as serving as a "reliever" airport and providing access to the Bay Area market for discount carriers (such as Southwest) unwilling to pay high landing fees at SFO.
As of 2003, Mineta San Jose Airport was served by all six large hub-and-spoke domestic carriers, one West Coast carrier and four discount carriers. The airport has transcontinental service to five East Coast cities as well as limited international service to Mexico and Japan.
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American Airlines opened a hub at San Jose in 1988, using slots it obtained in the buyout of Air California in 1986. Reno Air, a startup based in Reno, Nevada, took over many of American's gates until it was bought out by American in 1998. American never re-established its hub, although it continues to use San Jose for flights to Honolulu, Kahului, and Tokyo. It operated nonstop flights to Taipei and Paris for a brief period in mid-2001.
In November 2001, the then "San José International Airport" was renamed for Norman Yoshio Mineta, a native of San José, former mayor and congressman who was then serving as United States Secretary of Transportation.
History
Terminals
There are three terminals at the airport. The international arrivals facility is connected to Terminal A, the northernmost terminal. Shuttle buses provide links from all terminals to the Santa Clara County light rail and regional CalTrain services.Terminal A
Terminal B (International Arrivals)
Terminal C
And on the cargo airline end, flights are received from:External Link