Air Canada starts booking flights at San Jose's airport

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Business travelers to Silicon Valley are excited about an announcement made on Thursday morning that Mineta San Jose International Airport will start offering another new international destination.

San Jose is the biggest city in the Bay Area and is home to the world's biggest tech companies. However, many people have to make that drive to San Francisco International Airport through a lot of traffic because the choices are limited at Mineta. But, that is changing.

San Jose's international flight schedule is taking off. Just this year the airport announced it added nonstop flights to Frankfurt, Beijing and London. On Thursday we learned that Air Canada is joining the crew.

"We are launching service from SJC to Vancouver twice daily," said Mayor Sam Liccardo.

Silicon Valley's airport has always lived in the shadow of the much bigger SFO.

Last year, the airport to the north had about 95-percent of international flight passengers in the Bay Area.

But with so many people and international companies in the San Jose area, expanding flights to other countries make sense to travelers.

"The fact that there is so much money in Silicon Valley and yet there are so limited international options in terms of carriers, and so, I thought that in the future we would see more and more of them. So I'm so happy that there is," said business traveler Paul Battaglia.

"The diverse community that's here, there's a lot of international travel," said San Jose resident Gautam Singampalli. "So it would be pretty cool to have some more international flights in San Jose."

Every day, 26,000 passengers go through San Jose.

Liccardo says international flights can bring millions to the local economy. But it's not just about the passengers.

"You're filling the bellies of those aircraft with air freight which helps commerce grow as well and that's often a lost factor when you're growing airlines especially internationals," said Matthew Mahood with the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Air Canada is already booking reservations for these flights on their website. These flights start on May 9.