After a nearly two-year legal battle, the city of San Francisco and Oakland’s airport reached a settlement agreement and announced that the airport would be allowed to use “San Francisco Bay” in its name.
The airport will officially be known as the Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, according to a joint announcement made by the city of San Francisco and Oakland airport on Tuesday, April 28.
The legal fight started in March 2024, after Oakland’s Board of Port Commissioners voted to rename the Metropolitan Oakland International Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, in hopes of highlighting its proximity to the Bay Area and attracting customers.
Port leaders planned to maintain the airport’s branding and its airport code of “OAK”.
Oakland International Airport was closed for nearly four hours Tuesday after a knife-wielding man threatened to harm himself. Police ended the standoff by turning off the air conditioning, causing the man to become hot and remove clothing.
Within weeks of this vote, the city of San Francisco filed a trademark infringement complaint in the Northern District of California against the city and port of Oakland, arguing that the change would be “problematic” and could cause confusion among customers planning to use San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
“Travelers will very likely be confused and book tickets to the unintended airport, thinking that the ‘San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport’ is SFO and arrive in the wrong place, a mistake leading to missed flights and connections, among other problems,” the lawsuit reads.
Over the next two years, the case moved through the federal court system before a judge forced the parties into mediation on Dec. 16, 2025, which resulted in the parties signing a “non-binding Settlement Term Sheet,” prompting them to work together in good faith to draft an agreement.
Ultimately, the city and county of San Francisco and the city and port of Oakland formalized an agreement allowing the Oakland airport to use “San Francisco Bay” in its new branding. But as a condition of the case, Oakland officials agreed that whenever they planned to use the “San Francisco Bay” branding, it must be immediately preceded by “Oakland.”
The Oakland airport agreed that the “Oakland name” must always be more prominent than the “San Francisco Bay” branding in advertisements and marketing to avoid confusion among customers.
“We’re proud Oakland fought for, and preserved the right to retain our airport’s full name that puts Oakland first and recognizes OAK’s location on the San Francisco Bay,” Mary Richardson, an attorney for the Port of Oakland, said in a statement.
Noe Padilla is a Northern California Reporter for USA Today. Contact him at npadilla@usatodayco.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. Sign up for the TODAY Californian newsletter or follow us on Facebook at TODAY Californian.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here’s why Oakland’s airport is going by a different name