The numbers for 2025 are in, and the top airports across the Golden State of California have stacked up to reveal the leaders. Departure schedule data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that the leading airfield of the year will see a quarter of a million planes take off from its runways.
It’s hardly surprising to see 
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) as the leading contender. As one of the busiest airports in the world, the capacity of this icon of air travel will be even greater in the coming years, as ongoing renovations are dramatically modernizing everything from aircraft support services to terminal areas, and public transportation, aka the “People Mover” train line.
So let’s go down the list and hit the highlights of what makes each of these West Coast aviation hot spots so important to the American air travel network.
7
Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport
39,427 scheduled departures
When Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport (OAK) was first constructed in 1927, it was home to the longest runway in the world at over 2,000 meters (7,000 feet). The icon of the early days of flight, Charles Lindbergh, inaugurated the airfield personally. In the nearly one century that has passed since it first opened its doors in the “Roaring Twenties,” the airport has been an integral part of the California and American national flying network. Oakland was even the final airfield to see off the legendary Amelia Earhart on her final flight, from which she would infamously never return.
Today, Oakland welcomes over 10 million flyers from across the globe every year and oversees the operation of more than 200,000 takeoffs and landings. It will be host to almost 40,000 departures in 2025 with a capacity to carry over 6 million flyers.
The airfield sits across the bay from San Francisco. The hub once suffered a poor reputation for traveler experience, but has made continuous upgrades over the past several years. Today, Skytrax gives Oakland a three-star ranking that puts it on par with LAX and SFO.
6
John Wayne Airport
48,530 scheduled departures
Located in Orange County, just outside the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area, John Wayne Airport (SNA) is known for its cleaner, quieter, and more convenient service by comparison to LAX. The lower traffic and wealthy surrounding cities make it possible for SNA to deliver a more relaxed airport experience. The airfield hosts a number of domestic carriers like Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and American Airlines, alongside a large number of private jets and luxurious charter aircraft.
Today, the airport is host to more than 11 million travelers a year. This year, the airfield will witness just under 50,000 commercial departures with capacity for 7 million passengers.
Named after the heroic star of countless silver screen classics, the one and only John Wayne, it was first established as a flying school before the government purchased it in the 1920s. SNA hosted Howard Hughes’ record-setting flight in 1935 when his H-1 Special set the absolute world speed record at 567.12 kilometers per hour (352.39 miles per hour).
5
San José Mineta International Airport
49,727 scheduled departures
Before the Coronavirus pandemic brought the global aviation industry to its knees in 2020, San José Mineta International Airport (SJC) was one of the fastest-growing airports in the United States by total seat capacity. That streak may have been broken by the two-year lull in flying traffic, but the resurgence of demand following the end of quarantine measures has renewed growth.
In the 1960s, San Jose began to see strong growth that has continued to this day. 
Southwest Airlines is the dominating carrier, with over half of the total flight capacity served by its jets. SkyWest, Spirit, Alaska, and Delta Air Lines bring in the majority of the other traffic. The airport is scheduled to oversee almost 50,000 total departures this year.
4
Sacramento International Airport
61,551 scheduled departures
Sacramento International Airport (SMF) will see almost 62,000 departures by the end of 2025. Those jets will have enough seats aboard to carry almost 9 million travelers between them. Southwest once again takes the lion’s share of the traffic with half of the total traffic flying on its all-Boeing-737 fleet.
The airport is home to two parallel runways over 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) in total length. Aside from Southwest and some small operations, the field hosts all of the US’ “big three” carriers: American, United, and Delta Air Lines.
When the airport opened in 1967, it was the first public-use airfield made from the ground up by any Western state government. The first international flights were not hosted until 2002. To keep up with the demand in the post-COVID-19 air travel era, SMF is constructing a new air control tower.
The $1.3 billion SMForward project is set to open in 2026 with full completion by 2028. The scope of the upgrades go beyond the tower, which is a critical infrastructure improvement that falls under the nationwide push led by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). New parking garages, baggage handling, concourses, and landside transportation facilities will all be coming soon.
3
San Diego International Airport
104,052 scheduled departures
The origin story of San Diego International Airport (SAN) is directly intertwined with Charles Lindbergh and his historic plane, the Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh test flew the plane near the site of what is now the present-day international airport. Its inauguration in 1928 was marked by a spectacle of nearly 200 US Navy and Army aircraft flying in formation.
In 2025, the hub will direct over 100,000 departures a year that can accommodate over 16 million passengers. Southwest has a nearly one-third share of the total traffic in and out of SAN, with the big three equally dividing up the bulk of the other air traffic.
By far and large, most flights are domestic, but several international airlines also frequent San Diego International, like British Airways, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and Japan Airlines. The airport is currently ramping up for a $3 billion improvement project that will transform Terminal One. Hampton Brown, Vice President at San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, told International Airport Review:
“We’re now solidifying our role as Southern California’s second intercontinental gateway.”
SAN is expanding its international portfolio with Porter Airlines, KLM, and Copa Airlines. The scope of the new project will dramatically enhance the customer experience with modern interiors and amenities, as well as new shopping, dining, retail, and other services.
2
San Francisco International Airport
189,260 scheduled departures
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) takes the silver in the California airport ranking for sheer number of departures. The field will be responsible for dispatching nearly 190,000 aircraft in 2025. Those planes will have a combined capacity for almost 33 million flyers aboard them. The numbers are staggering, and for the first time in this review, not dominated by Southwest. United Airlines is the reigning master of SFO with almost half of the total traffic carried by its fleet, which is the largest in the world today.
SFO is an icon of American aviation with stunning views of the great city that is San Francisco, as well as the surrounding Bay Area. The gateway to one of the nation’s most historic cities and a cultural capital of the West Coast, SFO is a critical element of the California air network.
Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines divvy up the other half of the total traffic in that ranking order. The critical nature of SFO’s role in the California and wider US air network makes it a highly competitive location for slots for domestic carriers and international airlines as well.
San Francisco International Airport is as valuable a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region as it is to the Western US states. China Airlines, Asiana, Korean Air, All Nippon Airways, and many more make the transoceanic journey to SFO. Similarly, flights from Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Lufthansa bring traffic from the other hemisphere directly to San Francisco Airport.
1
Los Angeles International Airport
259,006 scheduled departures
Claiming 259,006 departures for 2025, the colossus of the California aviation market is LAX. Consistently ranked in the top airports around the world by traffic, it’s no surprise to see LAX take the top spot on this list. Chronically jammed by traffic on the landside and taxiways, no expansion efforts ever seem to satisfy the endless demand for flights to LA’s airport by the beach.
The current decade-long, multi-billion-dollar infrastructure enhancements are a joint effort by every airline in the big three, as well as Southwest, international carriers, and every tenant of the airfield. The scale and scope of the improvements haven’t been seen since the huge airport saw its last real expansion efforts decades ago in the 1970s. Multiple Fortune 500 construction corporations are working on their own mega-projects simultaneously in anticipation of the 2028 Olympics.
The airport is well known for its stature in the ranking for air traffic, but it is widely notorious for poor service and painful travel experiences due to the woefully lacking capacity and consistently poor customer service by airport and airline staff alike.
