San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines (also known as SFO Helicopter Airlines and SFO Helicopter) was a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribute ...

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

service offering scheduled passenger flights between

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

, and other

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gove ...

cities. It was founded in 1961 but disappeared from the

Official Airline Guide OAG is a global travel data provider with headquarters in the UK. The company was founded in 1929 and operates in the USA, Singapore, Japan, Lithuania and China. It has a large network of flight information data including schedules, flight sta ...

15 years later before finally going out of business in 1986.

History

San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines was one of the first helicopter airlines to operate without a federal subsidy and it was also the first to operate with only

turbine engine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

helicopters. Since helicopter landing sites were scarce at that time, the port of Oakland's board committee supported the service. Passenger flights started with two leased 10-passenger Sikorsky S-62 turbine helicopters. In late summer of 1961, the SFO Helicopter Airlines system timetable stated that 68 flights a day were operated, with the airline claiming that its helicopters made less noise than neighborhood trucks. In 1962, the U.S. Post Office Department granted San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

contract number AM-103, allowing it to transport U.S. Mail until 1976. Also in 1962, SFO Helicopter was operating sight seeing aerial tours on weekends and holidays during the summer months from

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. ...

with a fare of $4.50 for adults and $3.50 for children. In 1965, the airline tried operating a 15-seat Bell SK-5 hovercraft between

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middl ...

( SFO),

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger fl ...

(

OAK An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ...

), and San Francisco. In 1969, it carried 320,000 passengers on more than 100 flights a day. According to the April 27, 1969 SFO Helicopter Airlines timetable, each arriving and departing flight at SFO served not one but two gates:

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

gate 45 and

TWA Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

gate 53 with staggered arrival and departure times for each flight at each gate being reflected in the timetable. In May 1968, after continuous growth, the company's schedule reached 14 weekday departures from the

San Francisco Ferry Building The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San Fr ...

, 11 from Marin, 13 from Berkeley, three from a parking garage in

(known as AlcoPark), and 9 from

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

. For interline passengers connecting at SFO and then heading east beyond Colorado, the ticket to SFO cost $4.75 from Marin or Lafayette and only $4.50 from Berkeley. The San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines' fleet as of 1965 consisted of one Sikorsky S-62 helicopter and three Sikorsky S-61N helicopters. The airline was declared bankrupt in July 1970 and by the end of the year, destinations had been reduced to Marin, Berkeley, SFO, and OAK. In 1973-1974, Emeryville replaced Berkeley as one of their reduced destinations. According to the October 26, 1975 SFO Helicopter Airlines timetable, 53 flights were being operated on a daily basis with an additional 26 flights being operated every day except on Saturdays with service being flown from San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, Marin County and Emeryville. They disappeared from the

in 1976. SFO Helicopter Airlines resumed scheduled passenger service by 1983. According to the July 1, 1983 Pocket OAG, 22 round trip flights were being operated every weekday with Bell 206 helicopters between San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport. This same referenced OAG also lists competition from another helicopter airline on the SFO-OAK route: Spirit Heliporter operating 25 round trip flights every weekday with Bell 206 helicopters with this same company also flying 24 round trip flights every weekday between SFO and China Basin in San Francisco. By 1985, the OAG listed SFO Helicopter service between SFO and OAK and also between SFO and the Oakland Convention Center with all flights being operated with Bell 206 helicopters.

Destinations

The following destinations were served at various times by San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines during its existence: *San Francisco ( SFO,

) *San Francisco (heliport at just north of

) *San Francisco Pier 50B - (used by the hovercraft operation) *Oakland (

) *

Oakland, CA Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

(heliport code JOK, roof of the Alameda County Parking Garage, known as AlcoPark, at ) *

(heliport code JFZ, roof of the Hyatt Hotel Parking Garage 14th and braodway *

(10th St southeast of Fallon) *

Berkeley, CA Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

(heliport code JBK, north side of University Ave, about ) near the Berkeley Marina. * Concord, CA - Buchanan Field Airport (CCR) * Emeryville, CA * Lafayette, CA (near 3738 Mt Diablo Blvd, "behind Hillside Motel", about ) *San Jose Municipal Airport (SJC, now

San Jose International Airport Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport , commonly known simply as San Jose International Airport, is a city-owned public airport in San Jose, California, United States. It is named after San Jose native Norman Mineta, former United St ...

) * Sunnyvale, CA (heliport code JSV, International Science Center Heliport)http://www.timetableimages.com, Aug. 1, 1962 SFO Helicopter Airlines timetable, Sunnyvale flight schedules *Palo Alto Municipal Airport (

Palo Alto Airport Palo Alto Airport is a general aviation airport in the city of Palo Alto in Santa Clara County, California, United States, near the south end of San Francisco Bay on the western shore. Facilities Palo Alto Airport covers and has one asphalt ...

) *Commodore Seaplane Base, Sausalito, CA () in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

References

External links

A SFOA TimetableSFO Helicopter Airlines aircraft
{{helicopter airlines Defunct helicopter airlines Defunct airlines of the United States Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Airlines based in California Airlines established in 1961 Airlines disestablished in 1985 1961 establishments in California 1985 disestablishments in California Companies based in Oakland, California

History

Destinations

See also

References

External links