Originally Posted by
orbitmic
I would really be surprised. OAK is a nice enough airport but it is San Francisco for all practical purposes. That's why I'm personally a bit puzzled by the "triple bill" of LHR-SFO, LHR-SJC, and LGW-OAK. Unless BA are planning to reduce capacity on LHR-SFO, where even in the winter season they are on two daily, I'm not entirely certain there is the market for all those seats, especially with the competition from UA and DL/VS on LHR-SFO and DY on LGW-OAK. Maybe i'm underestimating the potential, but I just don't see it.
The East Bay is the fastest growing part of the Bay Area in this economic cycle.
There's little land in the peninsula, and the economic expansion has been centered around SF and Oakland, which results in housing expansion in the East Bay.
BA may be a little bit ahead of themselves with this, but there is a strategic element to it as well.
There are about 7 million people in the Bay Area, and OAK is the closest and most convenient airport to more than 2.5 million of them.