Oakland Airport’s Name Change Is Causing Controversy — Here’s Why

The Metropolitan Oakland World Airport is now not. Rather, the Bay Segment airport has formally modified its identify to the “San Francisco Bay Oakland World Airport,” sparking controversy within the procedure.

The airport in Oakland, California, modified its identify in hopes of attracting extra guests and making it unclouded the place within the surrounding the airport used to be positioned, in keeping with the airport.

The airport’s code, OAK, and brand will stay the similar.

“The convenience and ease of traveling through OAK won’t change with our name,” Period in-between Director of Flight Craig Simon stated in a observation. “OAK is the closest major airport to 58 percent of the Bay Area population … This designation will let the world know who we serve.”

The Oakland Board of Port Commissioners voted unanimously to switch the identify.

On the other hand, the exchange has now not been with out rivalry as town of San Francisco sued the airport over claims the pristine identify violates town’s trademark rights and would “almost certainly cause confusion among consumers and the public generally,” in keeping with Reuters.

San Francisco operates its personal airport, the San Francisco World Airport (SFO), which is positioned in San Mateo County.

For its phase, the Port of Oakland counter-sued town of San Francisco and requested the courtroom to rule the pristine identify didn’t violate any trademark rights, in keeping with a observation.

“Changing ‘Metropolitan’ to ‘San Francisco Bay’ in Oakland Airport’s name accurately describes OAK’s geographic location on the Bay and presents the airport as an additional choice for travel into the San Francisco Bay Area,” Port Legal professional Mary Richardson stated within the observation. “SFO’s lawsuit is a disappointing and anticompetitive effort to discourage competition and choice, and we are confident the Court will agree.”

Oakland isn’t abandoned in seeking to exchange the identify of its airport to raised mirror its location. The Montreal Metropolitan Airport additionally modified its identify previous this generation from its earlier designation, the Saint-Hubert airport. Consistent with Canadian information community CTV Information, the progress has sparked related controversy and felony court cases via the Aeroports de Montreal, which operates the Montreal-Trudeau World Airport.