Founded 1961 Ceased operations 1985 Key people Mike Bagen | Commenced operations June 1st, 1961 Headquarters Oakland, California | |
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines (also known as SFO Helicopter Airlines and SFO Helicopter) was a helicopter airline scheduling passenger flights between San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area cities. It was founded in 1961 but disappeared from the Official Airline Guide 15 years later, before finally going out of business in 1986.
Contents
History
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines was one of the first helicopter airlines to operate without a federal subsidy and it was the first to operate with only turbine engine helicopters. Flights started with two leased 10-passenger Sikorsky S-62s. In late summer 1961 the timetable showed 68 flights a day, with the airline claiming that its helicopters made less noise than neighborhood trucks. In 1962 the U.S. Post Office Department granted SFO Helicopter airmail contract number AM-103, allowing it to transport U.S. Mail until 1976.
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines' fleet in 1965 was one Sikorsky S-62 and three Sikorsky S-61Ns. In 1965 the airline tried a 15-seat Westland-Bell SK-5 hovercraft between SFO, OAK, and San Francisco Pier 50B. In May 1968 the timetable showed 14 weekday departures from the San Francisco Ferry Building, 11 from Marin, 13 from Berkeley, 3 from a parking garage in downtown Oakland, 9 from Lafayette, 10 from Palo Alto Airport and 11 from SJC. For passengers connecting east to Denver or beyond, the ticket to SFO cost $4.75 from Marin or Lafayette and $4.50 from Berkeley. In 1968 SFO Helicopter enplaned 332000 passengers (compared to 408000 on New York Airways and 307000 on Los Angeles Airways).
In the April 27, 1969 timetable, each flight at SFO served two gates: American Airlines gate 45 and TWA gate 53 with staggered arrival and departure times at each gate.
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; the October 26, 1975 timetable shows 53 daily flights and 26 daily-except-Sat flights from SFO, OAK, Marin County and Emeryville. They disappeared from the Official Airline Guide in 1976 and had gone out of business in 1986.
Something called SFO Helicopter Airlines appeared in the OAG from 1981-82 until 1988. It was a Part 204 commuter airline (unlike the original SFO Helicopter) so its flights didn't appear in Airport Activity Statistics and it's unknown to what extent they existed.
The July 1, 1983 Pocket OAG shows 22 weekday round trips with Bell helicopters between SFO and OAK airports. This OAG shows another helicopter airline on the SFO-OAK route: Spirit Heliporter operating 25 weekday round trips with Bell helicopters, plus 24 weekday round trips between SFO and China Basin in San Francisco. In 1985 the OAG listed SFO Helicopter service between SFO and OAK and also between SFO and the Oakland Convention Center, all on Bell helicopters.
Destinations
Destinations served at various times: