When the idea of relocating Sacramento Municipal Airport from the airfield now known as Executive Airport to the rice fields north of the city , some folks saw it as a pipe dream . Critics did not see how Sacramento , a city with a population of barely 200,000 in 1957 when the 6,000-acre parcel was purchased , could support the airport that was being proposed . The property was seen as too big and the project too expensive . Projections that 750,000 people would use the airport in its first year were laughed at by critics .
From the moment Sacramento Metropolitan Airport , as it was called then , opened in October 1967 , it was a hit . In its first year , 1 million travelers passed through its gates . The ensuing decades saw ups and downs , but as the region grew and Northern California became more popular as a tourist destination , the airport ’ s numbers continued to trend upward . Spurred by this growth , the airport built a second air cargo facility in 1985 and a second runway in 1987 .
Over the course of the early 1990s , several carriers brought their operations to the airport , while some others left , resulting in a net gain . In 1993 , the scruffy low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines , which was launched the same year the new Sacramento Metropolitan Airport opened , arrived . It has since become the largest domestic carrier in the United States and is responsible for more than half of the passenger flights in and out of Sacramento International .
In 1998 , a new Terminal A was built , and the airport rechristened itself Sacramento International Airport . Notable to airport history buffs : Terminal A became home to the world ’ s first consolidated rental car center , in which all rental car companies are situated in one building , connected to the terminal by shuttle busses . This is now an industry standard .
Sacramento International Airport features several distinct pieces of art , including “ Leap ,” a 56-foot aluminum rabbit that greets passengers in Terminal B . PHOTO COURTESY OF SACRAMENTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Meanwhile , in September 1993 , Mather Air Force Base , east of Sacramento in then-unincorporated Rancho Cordova , was decommissioned , and the majority of the base was transferred to Sacramento County to operate . In 1995 , the airfield reopened as Mather Airport . And Mather brought SCAS an asset that has proven to be valuable .
ANNUAL PASSENGERS AT SACRAMENTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
GRAPH BY CARLY CORNEJO
14 12 10 8 6 4 2
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Source : Sacramento County Airport System
April 2021 | comstocksmag . com 57