San Diego International Airport - Relocation Proposals

Relocation Proposals

California State Assembly Bill AB 93 created the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority in 2001. The SDCRAA projects that SAN will be constrained due to congestion between 2015–2022. In June 2006, SDCRAA board members selected Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as its preferred site for a replacement airport, despite military objections. On November 7, 2006, San Diego County residents defeated an advisory relocation which included a joint use proposal measure.

The airport is operating with 71% of its total gate capacity of 60 gates and will soon add 10 more gates taking the airport to 92% of its total gate capacity.

Twenty-two studies have been conducted on where to place an airport dating back to 1923. The first study developed the site location plan for Lindbergh field. Eighteen studies were conducted by private groups, most in the early days by those who were opposed to Lindbergh being built instead of on land set aside at what is now Montgomery Field. One was a revisitation of a study done in the 1980s by the City in 1994 when Miramar closed as a Navy Base and was then transferred to a Marine Base. Another was by the City of San Diego in 1984 and another that started in 1996 and sat dormant with SANDAG until the Airport Authority was formed. This study is the first study ever done to look for a new site by an agency that actually had jurisdiction over the issue, and the first non-site specific comprehensive study of the entire region.