Now Departing at the New Concourse in San Jose

Southwest Airlines first up when it comes to new gates

The wait is over for passengers waiting to see the brand new airport in San Jose.

Beginning today, five new gates will be officially open. Yep, that isn't a typo.  Five gates is the starting point for the new portion of Concourse B that opened Wednesday.

The first passengers took off at 6:20 a.m.

The entire $1.3 billion airport won't be complete until next summer, but this week will be the first time regular folks will be able to see a glimpse of the wonder that will be the new Mineta San Jose International Airport Terminal B.

The old airport was an embarrassment for many here in the high tech capitol of the world known as Silicon Valley.  It's hard to impress a client when they have to walk down rusty stairs onto a tarmac on their way to their big Silicon Valley product pitch.

The new gates are for Southwest Airlines passengers to start.  Airport officials says if you get one of them you will need to pay some extra attention to signage in order to find the right location for your flight.

You might also getting a little dusty along the way because you will be walking through the still unfinished portion of the terminal.

Once you get there you will be among the first to eat at the new San Jose Sharks restaurant.  Britannia Arms is next.

The big changes arrive of course in the middle of a down economy.  The airport has seen a 14-percent drop in passengers in the past year.

That isn't having an impact on the new terminal though, because that money has been set aside for years.

Airport officials said the downturn actually helped in some ways because contractors were willing to drop their price and since there were fewer passengers, the crews had more room to work.

Contact Us