-- Facility is Part of Airport’s $1.6 Billion Expansion Program --
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cyndy Johnson, (510) 563-2820
Rosemary Barnes, (510) 563-2892
After Hours, (510) 563-3360
Oakland, CA, August 19, 2003 – The new interim rental car center
at Oakland International Airport (OAK) opens to Bay Area visitors at midnight
on Sunday, August 24, allowing for construction to begin on the airport’s
terminal expansion project.
The facility will temporarily house the operations of the eight on-airport
national rental car companies for the next three to four years. A 15,000-square
foot customer service building is located on the 12-acre rental car center site
at the airport’s historic North Field. Construction of the $14 million
facility was partially funded by a $10 per car rental customer facility charge.
Rental car company operations were previously located near the airport’s
Hourly Parking Lot.
“This facility opening marks a significant change to the look of Oakland
International Airport,” said Director of Aviation Steve Grossman. “With
the rental car facilities consolidated under one roof at this new temporary
location, we can now break ground on a permanent, seven-level, 6,000-space rental
car/public parking garage that will be conveniently located across from the
airport terminals.”
Customers of Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Fox, Hertz, National and Thrifty
will be transported from the terminals to the rental car center via a common-use
shuttle bus. Customers will return their rental cars at the rental car center
and board the rental car shuttle to the terminals. The shuttle bus ride should
take less than 10 minutes each way, however, during peak travel periods the
ride may take up to 15 minutes each way.
Off-airport rental car company customers must also use the common-use shuttle
bus for transportation to and from the airport terminals, using the rental car
center as their transfer point since individual rental car shuttles are no longer
permitted on airport roadways. Customers are urged to call ahead to their off-airport
rental car company from the terminals to arrange the transfer.
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, based in Pleasanton, Calif., was the
general contractor for this project.
The Airport Development Program is an umbrella program for 18 expansion and
improvement projects. Program highlights include the addition of 12 passenger
gates, a six-lane parkway linking the airport and the community of Bay Farm
Island (Alameda) with Interstate 880, and a multi-level parking facility. The
$1.6 billion expansion program is expected to take five to seven years to complete.
Oakland International Airport has served the San Francisco Bay Area for more
than 75 years and is responsible for $4.5 billion in economic activity annually
in the San Francisco Bay Area, generating over 70,000 jobs for the region. Oakland
International is a revenue division of the Port of Oakland, an independent department
of the City of Oakland, and served 12.7 million passengers and handled more
than 600,000 metric tons of air cargo in 2002, making it the second fastest
growing major airport in the nation.
The airport has 200 flights a day on 12 domestic and international carriers
to 41 nonstop destinations, including Atlanta, the Hawaiian Islands, the New
York area, Washington, D.C., and Mexico and seasonal service to the Azores (Portugal)
and Costa Rica.
Oakland International consistently has the fewest weather-related flight delays
in the Bay Area. Since 1992, the airport and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
have jointly operated a dedicated shuttle bus that meets every BART system train
at the nearby Coliseum station. Once at the airport, travelers can tune to 1700AM
for current airport traffic, parking and security information and watch for
roadway signage at the entrance to the airport that will indicate which parking
lots still have available space. Visit the airport’s web site at www.oaklandairport.com
for more information.
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