San Francisco International Airport

SFO KSFO San Francisco, United States

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SFO at a glance

What it is: San Francisco International Airport is a major international airport serving San Francisco, United States.
Codes: SFO on your ticket, KSFO on the radar.
How busy: the reference profile lists about 51.3 million annual passengers across 4 runways.
Main airline: United Airlines bases aircraft here, along with 1 other carrier.
Right now: 64 aircraft are within 55 km, shown live on the map above.
Local time zone: America/Los_Angeles (UTC-7), so every time shown for SFO is local rather than UTC.

Aircraft observed near SFO

64 aircraft are within 55 km of SFO right now. This is live ADS-B traffic, not a published timetable: aircraft are classified by what they are physically doing - Climbing out, on approach, or holding at cruise overhead. For gate numbers and scheduled times, check with SFO directly or your airline.

Departing now

Flight	Operator	Route	Status	Altitude	Speed
SWA2165	Southwest Airlines	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	6 kts
JBU215	JetBlue Airways	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	10 kts
UAL648L	United Airlines	route not published	on stand or taxiing	50 ft	6 kts
UAL1265	United Airlines	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	5 kts
CFG6KJ	—	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	53 kts
UAL194	United Airlines	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	10 kts
SKW5464	—	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	3 kts
UAL1151	United Airlines	route not published	on stand or taxiing	—	1 kts

Arriving now

Flight	Operator	Route	Status	Altitude	Speed
UAL2313	United Airlines	route not published	on approach	1,175 ft	151 kts
SAS935	SAS Scandinavian Airlines	route not published	on approach	2,225 ft	187 kts
N850SP	—	route not published	on approach	200 ft	53 kts
N228HP	—	route not published	on approach	1,800 ft	101 kts
N879HZ	—	route not published	on approach	1,775 ft	98 kts
CXK208	—	route not published	on approach	2,425 ft	95 kts
N562AC	—	route not published	on approach	2,900 ft	98 kts
N8372L	—	route not published	on approach	1,000 ft	78 kts

Overhead and in the area

Flight	Operator	Route	Status	Altitude	Speed
N739UL	—	route not published	in the area	1,000 ft	85 kts
N62TV	—	route not published	in the area	1,200 ft	83 kts
N5525U	—	route not published	in the area	4,025 ft	105 kts
ASA561	Alaska Airlines	route not published	in the area	4,300 ft	231 kts
N24998	—	route not published	in the area	3,200 ft	78 kts
BYF31	—	route not published	in the area	2,050 ft	101 kts
N1724P	—	route not published	in the area	3,925 ft	121 kts
N51HF	—	route not published	in the area	3,500 ft	113 kts

51.3M

Annual passengers (reference)

Runways

Terminals

13 ft

Field elevation

About SFO

The Bay Area's principal airport and United Airlines' transpacific gateway, built on landfill along San Francisco Bay. Its pairs of closely spaced parallel runways make it sensitive to fog delays. The airport houses an accredited aviation museum and extensive art programme.

San Francisco International began in 1927 as Mills Field Municipal Airport, on pastureland leased from the banking Mills family beside the bay. Early years were humble, but United Air Lines predecessors and Pan American's transpacific Clippers soon put the airport on the map.

The city bought the land outright in 1930. Renamed San Francisco Airport in 1931 and granted the International title after the Second World War, it grew on landfill pushed steadily into San Francisco Bay, opening its Central Terminal in 1954 as the jet age approached.

United made San Francisco one of its most important bases, building a vast maintenance center and, over time, its premier transpacific gateway. The dramatic International Terminal, spanning the entry roadway, opened in 2000, followed by the AirTrain people mover and BART rail connection in 2003.

Terminal 2 was reborn in 2011 as an acclaimed boutique-style facility, and Harvey Milk Terminal 1, honoring the civil rights pioneer, opened in phases from 2019. Through it all, the airport's signature challenge endured: two pairs of intersecting parallel runways, built for another era, that force arrival cutbacks whenever the famous fog rolls through the San Bruno gap.

How SFO operates today

SFO operates four runways arranged as two intersecting parallel pairs, with the 28s handling most arrivals off the bay and the 1s launching departures in the standard west plan. Because the parallels are only 750 feet apart, low clouds force single-file approaches and the airport's notorious weather delays.

United runs its transpacific and technology-corridor hub from Terminal 3 and the International Terminal, with Alaska strong in Terminal 2 and the airport hosting dozens of Asian and European long-haul carriers. Cargo and maintenance line the north field, including United's historic maintenance base.

Top routes from SFO

Destination	Main airlines	Why it matters
Los Angeles (LAX)	United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines	The California corridor is perennially among the busiest US city pairs.
New York JFK (JFK)	United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue	A premium transcontinental battleground famous for lie-flat business cabins.
London Heathrow (LHR)	United Airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic	The flagship European route serving Silicon Valley's global business ties.
Hong Kong (HKG)	Cathay Pacific, United Airlines	A long-standing transpacific heavyweight for finance and family traffic.
Singapore (SIN)	Singapore Airlines, United Airlines	Among the longest nonstop flights from the US mainland, linking two tech economies.

Facts about SFO

Its parallel runways are just 750 feet apart, so fog cuts the arrival rate roughly in half whenever visual approaches stop.
SFO Museum was the first museum in the world accredited inside an airport, curating rotating exhibitions across the terminals.
The airport began as Mills Field on leased pastureland in 1927, and much of today's airfield sits on landfill in San Francisco Bay.
The Wag Brigade of therapy animals patrolling the terminals has famously included LiLou, a certified therapy pig.

Plane spotting at SFO

Bayfront Park in Millbrae is the classic perch, putting photographers directly beside side-by-side arrivals to runways 28L and 28R across the water, with Coyote Point offering longer-lens bay views. New to spotting? Start with our aircraft identification guide and the world's best spotting airports.

IATA / ICAO

SFO / KSFO

Location

San Francisco, United States 37.621, -122.379

Time zone

America/Los_Angeles

Opened

1927

Hub for

United Airlines, Alaska Airlines

Website

www.flysfo.com

Airlines hubbed at SFO

UA · UAL United Airlines United States AS · ASA Alaska Airlines United States

Tracked flights using SFO

Selected scheduled services whose curated route starts, ends or stops at San Francisco International Airport.

Flight	Route	Typical aircraft
BA49	LHR → SFO	Airbus A380	Track BA49 →
KE23	ICN → SFO	Boeing 777-300ER	Track KE23 →
AI173	DEL → SFO	Boeing 777-200LR	Track AI173 →
UA1	SFO → SIN	Boeing 787-9	Track UA1 →
UA857	SFO → PVG	Boeing 777-300ER	Track UA857 →
UA863	SFO → SYD	Boeing 787-9	Track UA863 →
SQ1	SIN → SFO	Boeing 777-300ER	Track SQ1 →
VN98	SGN → SFO	Airbus A350-900	Track VN98 →

Nearby and related airports

Geographically close airports and useful alternatives in United States.

More airports and guides connected to SFO

Most of the tails you see here belong to United Airlines. It ranks among the world's busiest fields, which we compare in the busiest airports ranked. Nearby, Los Angeles (LAX) serves the same country. The codes SFO and KSFO are explained in airport codes decoded.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

SFO official airport website - operational information and current airport details.
OurAirports public data - airport identity, codes, coordinates and runway reference data.

Passenger, runway, terminal and hub figures are maintained as a reviewed reference snapshot, not a live operational record. Check the airport directly before travelling.

Read our airport data sourcing and review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Frequently asked questions about SFO

What is the airport code for San Francisco International Airport?

San Francisco International Airport uses the IATA code SFO on tickets and baggage tags, and the ICAO code KSFO in flight plans and on radar. The leading “K” in KSFO is the region marker: ICAO codes are grouped geographically, which is why airports near each other usually share their first letter or two while their IATA codes look unrelated.

How many runways does SFO have?

San Francisco International Airport operates 4 runways across 4 passenger terminals. The field sits at 13 ft above sea level.

How busy is SFO?

This reference profile lists roughly 51.3 million annual passengers for San Francisco International Airport. You can see aircraft observed departing, arriving and overhead on this page, taken from live ADS-B broadcasts.

Which airlines are based at SFO?

United Airlines, Alaska Airlines treat SFO as a hub or major base. Many other carriers serve the airport without basing aircraft there.

How many terminals does SFO have?

This reference lists San Francisco International Airport with 4 passenger terminals. Check the airport or operating airline for the terminal assigned to a specific flight.

What time zone is SFO in?

San Francisco International Airport runs on America/Los_Angeles, currently UTC-7. Flight trackers work in UTC internally, so the seven-day history on our flight pages is stamped UTC while the boards on this page are in SFO local time - worth remembering when the two disagree by a whole calendar day.

Can I track flights at SFO live?

Yes. The map on this page shows every aircraft broadcasting its position within about 55 km of San Francisco International Airport, and there are 64 in range as this page loaded. The boards split them into departures, arrivals and traffic passing overhead, all timed in America/Los_Angeles.