Opinion: Is there a new international airport in San Diego’s future?
San Diego International alone just won’t fly.
Moving the airport still issue worth discussing
Re “The idea of moving San Diego’s airport has finally been put to rest, right?” (Oct. 17): Prior to the pandemic, the 2035 San Diego International Airport aircraft capacity limit date was corrected to 2025. Now, it is more difficult to predict as the airport is currently at about 80 percent of pre-pandemic operational levels.
In 2018, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority published a document claiming that the airport is responsible for $12 billion annually of revenues to the county. When capacity is reached, so will this revenue number.
There will be many who express concerns at that point, but then it will be too late. It is going to take 30 years to implement a new Southern California International Airport. In the meantime, there are about 640 acres of prime development where the airport sits that could be housing, parks, hotels and a transportation hub.
The key is leadership, but then I won’t repeat the description of the process of moving the airport to a new location attributed to Mayor Hedgecock decades ago. This is a family paper.
Gary Wonacott
Mission Beach
A second airport would make the most sense
With Northern San Diego County exploding, and the Inland Empire growing in all directions, it’s probably time to think about building a new airport on a slice of Camp Pendleton.
The base has 125,000 acres, and its training needs are changing due to altered warfare tactics. Perhaps the highest and best use for some of its acreage is international air traffic.
San Diego International is 663 acres, is land locked, and is an issue of constant public debate. It was a subject of many an argument when I moved here in 1973.
An airport at Pendleton would have easy access to Interstate 5, and train service could easily be linked in, providing a quick trip to both San Diego and Los Angeles
San Diego International could then narrow its focus to domestic flights (and perhaps other Western Hemisphere nations) reducing traffic, safety, and noise concerns.
Lisa Smith
Lake San Marcos
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