Overview
The Federal Aviation Administration announced new operational restrictions at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that will restrict certain landings and lead to significant delays for arriving flights. The FAA cited safety concerns tied to approach procedures and an ongoing runway repaving project as the twin reasons for the measures.
What changes and why
Two actions will combine to reduce the airport's arrival throughput. First, a runway repaving program will take the airport's two north-south runways out of service for approximately six months, reducing available runway capacity during that period. Second, the FAA will no longer allow side-by-side approaches to SFO's parallel east-west runways in clear weather; instead the agency now requires staggered approaches where one aircraft is offset relative to the other on the adjacent runway. The FAA noted that it never permitted side-by-side approaches in bad weather.
Collectively, these steps cut the airport's maximum arrival rate from 54 flights per hour to 36 flights per hour. The FAA said it is exploring ways to safely increase the arrival rate at the airport but does not plan to lift the approach restrictions once the repaving is complete.
Airline exposure and traffic mix
The airport is the 13th-busiest in the United States. United Airlines represents roughly half of passenger traffic at SFO, with Alaska Airlines accounting for about 10% of passengers. Given that concentration, the operational limits and repaving schedule will disproportionately affect carriers with large shares of SFO traffic.
Related FAA safety actions
The FAA said it has taken multiple steps to reduce the risk of accidents tied to visual separation of aircraft. Earlier this month the agency tightened helicopter safety regulations and announced it would suspend the use of visual separation between airplanes and helicopters near major airports. The agency's recent rulemaking and operational changes follow a January 2025 mid-air collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an army helicopter that resulted in 67 fatalities.
In announcing the new restrictions, the FAA cited two recent incidents, including a near miss involving an American Airlines flight and a police helicopter near the San Antonio airport, among the events informing its decisions.
Market signal and monitoring
The FAA emphasized that safety is the priority while it explores options to restore higher arrival rates. The agency highlighted the use of staggered approaches and other mitigations as steps intended to reduce the chances of accidents related to visual separation on approaches to parallel runways.
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The FAA's decisions, combined with the planned runway work, create a constrained operating environment at SFO that will require carriers, passengers, and airport operators to adapt over the months ahead.