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Beginnings and expansion
In 1939, Ernie Renzel, a wholesale grocer and future mayor of San Jose, led a group which negotiated an option to buy 483 acre of the Stockton Ranch from the Crocker family, to be the site of San Jose's airport. Renzel led the effort to pass a bond measure to pay for the land in 1940. In 1945, test pilot James M. Nissen leased about 16 acre of this land to build a runway, hangar, and office building for a flight school. When the city of San Jose decided to develop a municipal airport, Nissen sold his share of the aviation business and became San Jose's first airport manager. Renzel and Nissen were instrumental in the development of San Jose Municipal Airport over the next few decades, culminating with the 1965 opening of what later became Terminal C.

San Jose's first airline flights were Southwest Airways Douglas DC-3s on the multistop run between San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), starting in 1948. Southwest then changed its name to Pacific Air Lines which in turn was the only airline serving the airport until 1966, when Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) started flying Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprops nonstop from LAX with this air carrier then adding Boeing 727-100 jetliner flights later that year. SJC's first airline jets were Pacific Air Lines Boeing 727–100 nonstops to LAX earlier in 1966 with the air carrier also operating 727 nonstops to Las Vegas in 1967. Pacific, which also served the airport with Fairchild F-27 turboprops, then merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West which was subsequently renamed Hughes Airwest which in turn continued to serve SJC with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets before it was acquired by and merged into Republic Airlines (1979-1986). In 1968 United Airlines arrived, with Boeing 727 nonstop flights from Denver, Chicago and LAX, and Douglas DC-8 jets from New York and Baltimore.

The runway which became 12R/30L was 4500 ft until about 1962—Brokaw Rd was the northwest boundary of the airport. In 1964 it was 6312 ft, in 1965 it was 7787 ft, and a few years later it reached 8900 ft, where it stayed until around 1991. The two runways are now both 11000 ft in length.

In the early 1980s, the airport was one of the first in the country to participate in the noise regulation program enacted by the U.S. Congress for delineation of airport noise contours and developing a pilot study of residential sound insulation. This program showed that residences near the airport could be retrofitted cost-effectively to reduce indoor aircraft noise substantially.

1988–2010: Boom and Bust
American Airlines opened a hub at San Jose in 1988, using slots it obtained in the buyout of AirCal (formerly Air California) in 1986. In 1990, Terminal A was opened to help accommodate the American operation. By summer 2001, American served Paris, Taipei and Tokyo nonstop from San Jose and had domestic flights to Austin, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Maui, Orange County, Portland, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle.

After the September 11 attacks and the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, the city lost much of its service. Air Canada dropped its flights to Toronto and Ottawa, Canada, and American Airlines ended its nonstops to Taipei, Vancouver, and Paris. American also cancelled service to Miami, St. Louis, Seattle/Tacoma, Portland (OR), Denver, Orange County, CA and Phoenix; the airline's flights to Los Angeles were downgraded to American Eagle regional flights.

In November 2001, the airport was renamed after Norman Y. Mineta, a native of San Jose, its former mayor and congressman, as well as both a former United States Secretary of Commerce and a United States Secretary of Transportation. That same month, the San Jose City Council approved an amended master plan for the airport that called for a three-phase, nine-year expansion plan. The plan, designed by Gensler and The Steinberg Group, called for a single, consolidated "Central Terminal" with 40 gates (twelve more than present), an international concourse and expanded security areas. The sail-shaped facade would greet up to 17.6 million passengers a year. A people mover system would link the new terminal with VTA light rail and the planned BART station next to the Santa Clara Caltrain station. Cargo facilities would be moved to the east side of the airport. A long term parking garage would be built where the rental car operations are now. A short term parking lot would be built on the site of Terminal C. On December 16, 2003, the San Jose Airport Commission named the airfield after former mayor Ernie Renzel and named the future Central Terminal after James Nissen. In August 2004, the city broke ground on the North Concourse, the first phase of the master plan.

The originally-approved master plan was scaled-back in 2005. The new two-phase plan called for a simplified Terminal B, rather than the initially proposed James Nissen Central Terminal, with a North Concourse to replace the aging Terminal C. In addition, Terminal A would be expanded for additional check-in counters, security checkpoints, and drop-off/pick-up curbside space. The new plan cost $1.3 billion, less than half of the original plan's $3 billion. The first phase was completed on June 30, 2010, when Terminal B and the North Concourse officially opened for service. Planning for Phase II began in early 2018, with 9 additional gates to be added along with a new concourse extension at the south end of Terminal B.

Service reductions continued throughout the early 2000's. Alaska Airlines halted its Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas seasonal routes, Horizon Air ended its Tucson service and American Airlines ended its San Luis Obispo and Boston Logan links. Some additions still occurred. In October 2005, Hawaiian Airlines began daily nonstops to Honolulu. In October 2006 American Airlines ended the San Jose–Tokyo–Narita route, San Jose's last nonstop beyond North America and Hawaii.

SJC suffered with many mid-tier airports during the 2008 rise in oil prices as airlines reduced marginal services. The airport lost much of its transcontinental U.S. service in the fall with Continental ending Newark flights, JetBlue ending Boston nonstops, and United ending flights to its Chicago–O'Hare and Washington Dulles hubs. The New York Times reported that between 2007 and 2009, SJC lost 22% of its seat capacity. Frontier Airlines pulled out of SJC in May 2010, citing lack of profitability on its single flight from the airport to Denver, Colorado. In August 2010, Mexicana Airlines also suspended all flights permanently due to bankruptcy.



2010–present: Rebound in service
Beginning in 2010, service expanded at SJC for the first time in several years. Domestic carriers JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines added or adjusted service while international carrier Volaris began service in May 2010 with flights to Guadalajara, Mexico. Alaska subsequently expanded offerings to include those in Hawaii and Mexico. The decade saw rapid expansion for the airport- In 2012, Hawaiian Airlines added service to Maui. All Nippon Airways announced it would begin service between San Jose and Tokyo in 2012, restoring the link between the two cities that was lost when American Airlines ended service on the route in 2006. The airline uses the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, making San Jose one of the first cities in the United States to see scheduled 787 flights. Due to delivery delays of its 787 aircraft, the airline postponed the launch of the route to early 2013.

In 2015 and 2016, several new international flights were launched. Hainan Airlines began nonstop flights from Beijing. British Airways commenced a daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner service from London–Heathrow; Aeromexico started a daily flight to Guadalajara, and seasonal service to Mexico City; and Air Canada returned, providing flights from Vancouver operated by Air Canada Express. Volaris expanded its offerings to Mexico with service to Morelia, Leon, and Zacatecas. Not all international routes proved successful. Lufthansa connected SJC and Frankfurt on flights operated by Lufthansa CityLine Airbus A340-300 aircraft and Air China introduced Shanghai–Pudong flights with an Airbus A330-200, but both carriers ended service in 2018.

In the wake of its acquisition of Virgin America, Alaska Airlines grew quickly at Mineta Airport as well as San Francisco International Airport between 2015 and 2018, adding intra-state cities like Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego, along with east coast destinations Newark and New York-JFK. Alaska has designated SJC a focus city in several articles when announcing new destinations.

Other domestic carriers have also increased service or returned to the airport. JetBlue restarted flights to Long Beach. Frontier Airlines resumed service to Denver and began flights to Las Vegas. Additional service to Austin, Atlanta, Cincinnati and San Antonio began in the spring of 2018. Delta Air Lines added service to its New York–JFK and Detroit hubs and United Airlines added Chicago-O'Hare.

Southwest Airlines greatly expanded service since 2016, connecting almost a dozen new cities across the country to SJC. Southwest also intends for San Jose to be one of its four California gateway airports with service to Hawaii.