San Francisco Airport to name international terminal in honor of late Sen. Dianne Feinstein

The San Francisco International Airport will honor the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and rename its international terminal after the trailblazer, the airport announced Tuesday.

The San Francisco Airport Commission approved a resolution Tuesday to rename the airport’s international terminal after the late lawmaker and former mayor of the Golden Gate City.

The commission received a nomination proposal in November and found numerous “compelling reasons,” including her work with the airport as a mayor and senator, to approve the proposal.

The commission said it will work with the Dianne Feinstein 100-plus Committee, the group behind the proposal, to determine the design and content surrounding the tribute. There is no definitive timeline as to when the project will be complete, the commission noted.

“As Mayor and Senator, she was committed to making SFO a world-class facility,” the airport wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The commission pointed to Feinstein’s leadership in negotiations for a lease and use agreement with airlines that “transformed” the airport’s business operation and assisted with construction of the international terminal, which opened in 1983.

Feinstein, during her time in the Senate, “played a leadership role in making the Airport the world-class facility it is today,” the commission wrote, calling her a “tireless advocate” for the airport.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) celebrated the news Tuesday, calling it a “fitting tribute.”

“A fitting tribute to my friend and former colleague who always fought for and cared so much about her beloved San Francisco,” he wrote in a post on X.

Feinstein died at the end of September at her home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 90. She spent three decades as a senator and became the longest-serving female senator in American history.

Before serving on Capitol Hill, Feinstein was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and was board president in November 1978, when then-Mayor George Moscone was assassinated. She became acting mayor and went on to serve two full-year terms as the city’s first female mayor.

Her legacy as mayor included fighting the city’s HIV and AIDS crisis and securing federal and private funding to save the city’s cable cars.

Among her most notable legislative actions on Capitol Hill included an amendment to ban the sale and manufacture of assault-style weapons. Then-President Clinton signed it into law in 1994 and it lasted for a decade.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who is currently running to replace Feinstein’s seat in the Senate, called the renaming of the terminal a “beautiful tribute.”

“In her home — a city she loved so deeply — it’s only fitting that millions of travelers will be reminded of and welcomed by the Senator when they arrive in the Bay Area,” he wrote on X.

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