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A major lawsuit was dropped last October between Oakland City Council and the world’s largest low-cost carrier, 
Southwest Airlines. The city’s attorney had been accusing the airline of depriving 3,000 employees of paid sick leave and other time-off benefits. The city had a similar allegation with the airline in 2020, which was settled.
Southwest remains the largest carrier by far at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK), and accounts for around 80% of all operations at the airport. With such dominance at the airport, it is an important gateway for the carrier and a key source of revenue for the airport. City leaders have attempted to strengthen the relationship with the airline since the lawsuit was dropped.
Southwest Schedules 13% Fewer Oakland Flights
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee met with Bob Jordan, Southwest Chief Executive Officer, days after the lawsuit was dropped to understand and discuss new partnerships to promote operations at the airport. It remains unclear if these actions have supported the airline’s ambitions to expand operations at the airport, following the first eight months of this year, showing that the airline has dropped around 13.5% of all flights.
When compared to the same period last year, data shows that the airline has one million fewer seats on flights to and from Oakland in the first eight months of this calendar year. This is a drop from 6.5 million in 2025, to 5.6 million this year. A total of 15% decrease when looking at seat numbers alone.
Thus far, Oakland has been unable to recover to pre-pandemic levels and has been in a steady decline since 2024, as reported by the Oaklandside. The decrease in air traffic is heavily influenced by Southwest’s actions, given its strong presence at the airport. Simple Flying reached out to Southwest for comment on its Oakland operations; however, an airline spokesperson could not immediately be reached.
What Is Causing The Steady Decline Of Flights At Oakland
Airport officials have suggested that the declining passenger numbers at Oakland are due to a steady decrease in business travel, a claim that Southwest has contested, noting that business travel remains strong in the region. Southwest has been questioned by the mayor if they are looking at new strategies to boost passenger traffic at Oakland, which the mayor’s office is not aware of.
While rising fuel costs and operational demands have put financial pressures on airlines since the Iran crisis, this has not stopped the bright blue airline from adding more flights to the airport’s biggest rival, 
San Francisco International Airport (SFO), including routes to Burbank (BUR) and Kansas City (MCI), which are set to commence later this year. Southwest commented to Oaklandside with the following statement:
“Oakland is a base city for our flight crews and an important part of our evolving network strategy – especially as it relates to intrastate travel in California, where we’ve been the market leader for many years.”
This coming December, Southwest will operate around 85 peak-day departures in December and through to February next year, which represents an incremental increase when compared month-on-month. Details of Oakland airport below:
Airport Name | Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport |
|---|---|
IATA Code | OAK |
ICAO Code | KOAK |
Owner/Operator | Port of Oakland |
Serves | East Bay, San Francisco Bay Area |
Hub For | FedEx Express |
Operating Base For | Southwest Airlines |
Runways |
|
Did The Lawsuit Influence Any Flight Reductions?
The lawsuit was dropped, and the Oakland mayor met with Jordan just five days after. The leaders didn’t discuss the terminated litigation but anticipated that Jordan would speak of the legal fight and would ask for the mayor’s help getting rid of the lawsuit. A memo describes the meeting as an opportunity for Lee to meet with Jordan, and to outline what both parties could do to resolve the lawsuit as quickly as possible.
Oakland had requested around $6 million to resolve the lawsuit against the carrier, a figure which the airline refused to pay as they firmly believed there was no wrongdoing. Southwest has offered concessions to the city, but the details of this remain unclear.
Southwest reduced flights from Oakland by around 20% at this time, while increasing the number of services at San Francisco. Services to and from the region’s third airport, Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), also remained subdued.
