Overview
Despite San Jose's position as the most populous city in the Bay Area, SJC is the smallest of the three Bay Area airports offering scheduled service (8.4 million annual passengers in 2011), with less than a quarter of the passengers of the region's major international airport San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and fewer passengers than Oakland International Airport (OAK). Like the Oakland airport, it attracts Bay Area residents who find SFO to be inconveniently distant from their homes.
SJC is situated as a "downtown airport", unlike both SFO and OAK, which are located on opposite shores of San Francisco Bay. SJC's relatively convenient location for residents and visitors near downtown San Jose has also led to some drawbacks. It became surrounded by the city and had little room for expansion. The proximity to downtown has also led to restrictions on heights of buildings in downtown San Jose by safety margins set in FAA regulations.
Read more about this topic: San Jose International Airport