SFO – San Francisco International Airport (IATA: SFO, ICAO: KSFO, FAA LID: SFO) is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, 13 miles (21 km) south of Downtown San Francisco.
In 1954 Qantas took over the ANA/BCPA route from SFO to Sydney; starting in 1959 their Boeing 707s flew to Sydney via Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji, and in the other direction to New York and London.
TWA began flying Lockheed Constellations (L-1649A’s) nonstop to London Heathrow and Paris Orly in 1957.
Pan Am scheduled Boeing 707-320s from Tokyo nonstop to SFO (winter only at first) starting in 1960–61; the westbound nonstops had to await the longer range Boeing 707-320B. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, a predecessor of British Airways) arrived in 1957; in 1960 its Bristol Britannias flew London – New York City – San Francisco – Honolulu – Wake Island – Tokyo – Hong Kong as part of BOAC’s around-the-world service.
By 1961 BOAC had replaced the Britannias with Boeing 707s that did not require the fuel stop at the Wake Island Airfield.
Japan Airlines (JAL) arrived at SFO in 1954; in 1961 it was flying Douglas DC-8s San Francisco – Honolulu – Tokyo.
In 1961 Lufthansa had begun serving SFO with Boeing 707s flying San Francisco – Montreal Dorval Airport – Paris Orly Airport – Frankfurt three days a week.
Lufthansa operated Boeing 720Bs on this routing in 1963 along with Boeing 707s to Frankfurt via Montreal and London Heathrow Airport.
Pan Am/Panagra service from SFO to South America was taken over in the late 1960s by Braniff International, which operated Douglas DC-8-62s to SFO after Braniff’s acquisition of Panagra.
In 1970 CP Air (formerly Canadian Pacific Air Lines) Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Vancouver, BC and on to Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.