San Diego Council Acts to Work With
Tijuana Officials
Proponents of a cross-border airport terminal in Otay Mesa were buoyed by a recent unanimous San Diego City Council vote in support of the project. The council voted last month to work with the operators of Tijuana International Airport should they move ahead with planned improvements that include a passenger terminal located on the San Diego side. Flavio Olivieri, chairman of the South County Economic Development Council, said the terminal would relieve some congestion at Lindbergh Field and generate business growth in the form of hotels, car rental agencies and parking lots. “This is something that we’ve been working on a long time,” Olivieri said. “The biggest piece of the pie isn’t in landing fees, but on the businesses surrounding the airport.”
The operators of the Tijuana airport, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico or GAP, have stated they plan to invest more than $50 million in improvements over three years with the intention of capturing international flights. The cross-border terminal would be located just west of the Otay Mesa border crossing and along the international border, and connect directly to Tijuana International’s main terminal by an elevated moving sidewalk. The concept allows departing passengers to obtain tickets, check their baggage and cross over to Tijuana’s main terminal via the moving sidewalk. Arriving passengers using the terminal would pass through customs at the facility.
A feasibility study done for the SCEDC two years ago found that of the 3 million passengers who used Tijuana International, some 1 million came from Southern California annually.
Attracting International Interest
The combination of an improved Tijuana airport and the cross-border terminal would likely capture even more passengers, especially if the Tijuana airport is successful in attracting international flights, proponents say.
Ralph Nieders, an airport consultant for GAP, said that currently, Tijuana has only one international flight to Cuba, but that could change if airlines determine there’s sufficient air cargo transported into and out of the region. “They know the traffic is there going into Tijuana because of the maquiladoras and agricultural business in northern Mexico. The question is how much cargo would be going out of the airport,” he said. The operators are in the process of getting agreements with manufacturers and freight forwarding companies to ensure there is sufficient air cargo traffic, Nieders said.
There’s another factor boosting the prospects for a cross-border terminal. The main partner of the private consortium awarded the operating rights to Tijuana and 11 other Mexican airports last year could be helpful in lining up the new international flights, Nieders said. The partner, Aeropuertos Espa & #324;oles y Navegaci & #243;n A & #233;rea or AENA, is a Spanish company that operates 42 airports in Spain and two others in Columbia. Nieders said the airport operators are in the process of finishing the master plan and should begin the first phase of construction this spring. He’s optimistic that the cross-border terminal project, which he’s worked on for about a decade, is close to becoming a reality. First proposed in 1990, the project was killed because it was first associated with an unworkable plan of reconfiguring the runways at Tijuana’s airport. Later, the concept proved unfeasible due to the political fallout resulting from a different airport plan called Twin Ports.
Brown Field May Benefit
The cross-border terminal appears to be in direct conflict with a plan to redevelop Brown Field as a major air cargo airfield. That project, in the planning pipeline for about two years, failed to get approval from the San Diego Planning Commission this summer. It next goes before the City Council. Larry Killeen, president of the Brown Field Air Commerce Center, the private company attempting to redevelop Brown Field, said the border terminal concept deserves further study and could complement his project. “We need to sit down and understand what they’re doing. This doesn’t have to be a win-lose. It can be a win-win,” Killeen said. The border terminal concept will be included in discussions of a full range of air transportation options for the region that are scheduled for both the Port of San Diego’s Port Commission, and the San Diego Association of Governments in January, said port spokeswoman Diana Lucero. The port district, which manages Lindbergh Field, initiated a dual-track process last year for improving Lindbergh Field, and determining whether a new airport is needed for the region. The port is in the process of completing an environmental report for one aspect of its improvement plan , building a new passenger terminal along Pacific Highway on the site of the former General Dynamics plant.
