The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is looking south of the border for solutions to future overcrowding and a lack of greater nonstop flights around the world.
Keith Wilschetz, airport planning director, said the Airport Authority is in the process of commissioning an advisory group to study the market demand of a cross-border terminal that would help meet the needs of an increasing number of passengers as Lindbergh Field reaches capacity in the coming years.
The $385,000 study will assess a few scenarios, ranging from a parking lot on the United States side with a connecting walkway to the Gen. A.L. Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana, as well as a full terminal with a taxiway to the Tijuana runway, Wilschetz said.
“They are strictly going to tell us how many people they anticipate would use this type of a facility,” Wilschetz said. “We would take a look at that and decide whether we feel that’s feasible or not.”
Wilschetz said the advisory group would be made up of about 20 members from the business community, the economic development community, San Diego Association of Governments and various transportation and government agencies from both countries.
He said the exploratory project will start Aug. 13, when the members will be introduced to one another and hear the scope of the project in more detail.
As the Airport Authority anticipates future needs, the rejection by voters of a possible airport at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar last November spurred the Airport Authority to look for alternatives to ensure more capacity for San Diego International Airport, he said.
“Lindbergh Field, as it is configured today, is not going to be able to solve our long-term needs,” Wilschetz said.
He added that many agencies have expressed interest in the possibility of future cooperation between airports.
The South County Economic Development Council has been entertaining the idea for the last ten years, according to Cindy Gompper-Graves, the council’s executive director.
She said the Tijuana airport already relieves some of Lindbergh’s congestion.
The Tijuana airport has a nonstop flight to Japan, she said, whereas a flight to Japan from San Diego stops in Los Angeles.
“[The Tijuana airport] is already meeting people’s needs, and this would just make it easier,” she said.
Gompper-Graves pointed to a binational airport in Europe as an example of a successful project. The Euro Airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg is jointly operated by Swiss and French authorities and located in French territory, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Although a precedent for binational airports has been set in other countries, Gompper-Graves said any cross-border construction of a parking lot or terminal ” that is, any project that involves foreign relations at the borders ” requires a presidential permit from the U.S. State Department.
To issue a permit, the State Department consults extensively with all parties involved, including collecting public comment, to decide if such a project would “serve the national interest,” according to the State Department’s Web site.
Permits are issued for bridges, oil pipelines and other facilities involving a U.S. border.
The South County Economic Development Council is a nonprofit organization formed in 1989 with the goals of encouraging private investment, promoting residential and business investments and publicizing the region’s cultural and natural characteristics, according to the South County EDC’s Web site.
The San Diego Regional Airport Authority oversees the day-to-day operations of the San Diego International Airport and serves as the region’s Airport Land-Use Commission for the county’s 16 airports.
For information on the airport authority, visit www.san.org.