CA -- San Diego International Airport:
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- SAN_070722_02.JPG: San Diego International Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Diego International Airport (IATA: SAN, ICAO: KSAN, FAA LID: SAN), also known as Lindbergh Field, is located in San Diego, California. San Diego International Airport is the second busiest single-runway commercial airport in the world, with approximately 600 departures and arrivals carrying 40,000 passengers each day, and over 17 million passengers a year. The busiest single-runway airport in the world is London Gatwick Airport. However, Gatwick has the advantage of a longer runway, a standby maintenance runway, flat terrain, no curfew, three times the area, and plans to double in size beyond 2019 and add another runway.
SAN occupies the smallest land footprint of any large commercial airport in the United States, occupying 661 acres (2.67 kmē) of land.
History:
Dedicated on August 16, 1928, the new airport was given the prominent name San Diego Municipal Airport - Lindbergh Field. This naming occurred because San Diego holds the honor of being the city from which Charles Lindbergh began the journey that would ultimately become the first solo transatlantic flight. Additionally, the airport holds the distinction of being the first federally certified airfield to serve all aircraft types, including seaplanes. The original terminal was located on the northeastern side of the field, along Pacific Coast Highway. The airport also holds the distinction of serving as a testing facility for several early U.S. sailplane designs, notably those by William Hawley Bowlus (Superintendent of Construction on the Spirit of St. Louis) who also operated the Bowlus Glider School at Lindbergh Field from 1929-1930. On June 1, 1930, a regular San Diego-Los Angeles airmail route was initiated. The airport gained 'international airport' status in 1934, and a United States Coast Guard Air Base located adjacent to the field was commissioned in April 1937. The Coast Guards' fixed-wing aircraft make use of the runway at Lindbergh Field.
World War II brought significant change to the airfield when the U.S. Army Air Corps took it over in 1942 to support the war effort. The infrastructure of the airport was improved to handle the heavy bombers being manufactured in the region during the war. This transformation, including an 8,750 foot runway, made the airport "jet-ready' long before jet passenger planes came into widespread service . After the war, commercial air service at Lindbergh Field expanded rapidly. Pacific Southwest Airlines established its headquarters in San Diego and inaugurated service at Lindbergh Field in 1949 to points throughout California. In 1960, Lindbergh Field gained its first jet service, with American Airlines and United Airlines operating the Boeing 720 to Phoenix and San Francisco, respectively.
Tragedy struck on September 25, 1978, when a Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727, operating as PSA Flight 182, suffered a mid-air collision with a privately owned Cessna 172 while on final approach to Lindbergh Field. One hundred and twenty-eight passengers and seven crew members on board the Boeing, two on board the Cessna and seven people on the ground were killed. This disaster remains the single worst aircraft accident in California history.
The original terminal was used until the 1960s, but by that time, air traffic in San Diego had increased considerably and new facilities were needed badly. The current Terminal 1 was opened on the southern side of the airport property on March 5, 1967. It was not until July 11, 1979 that Terminal 2 was opened. A third terminal, dubbed the Commuter Terminal, opened on July 23, 1996. Terminal 2 was later expanded by 300,000 square feet (30,000 mē) in 1998.
Originally operated by the San Diego Unified Port District, the airport is now operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
Flight operations:
The vast majority of operations at SAN are to the west.
Landing at the airport from the east (the most common approach) offers dramatic closeup views of skyscrapers, Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres), and the soaring, curving Coronado Bridge from the left side of the aircraft. On the right, Balboa Park, site of the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition, can be seen, along with the world famous San Diego Zoo and several freeways.
The approach from the east is steep, necessitated by terrain which drops from 266 feet to sea level in less than a mile. Aircraft normally descend at 317' per mile, but in San Diego they must descend at 376' per mile. San Diego's only runway is located at the base of a hill lined with obstructions, from the I-5 freeway, Balboa Park and a parking structure situated right on the final approach. Aircraft arriving from the east do not land at the end of the runway as at most airports, but land at what is called a displaced threshold, located 1810 feet from the runway end, effectively shortening the landing distance to 7591 feet. Aircraft departing to the west use the east end of the runway as their departure point. A photo from the cockpit of an arriving aircraft clearly shows the approach and the displaced threshold.
Reverse operations:
Under fog or Santa Ana wind conditions, operations are reversed with landings and takeoffs to the east. Because of the terrain, weight limits are imposed on departing aircraft under these conditions.
Terrain east and west of the airport greatly impacts the available runway length. Runway 27 (heading west) has a climb gradient of 317' per nautical mile leaving an equivalent takeoff distance of roughly 8,700' compared to a non-terrain airport. Taking off to the east requires a 600' per mile climb rate, this leaves an equivalent takeoff distance of 6,400', enough to force a weight penalty on the 737-800. It should also be noted that Lindbergh Field does not have standard "Runway Safety Areas" 1,000' in length at each runway end. An Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) has been installed at the west end of the runway to catch any aircraft overruns. The east end of the runway does not have such a system as its use would reduce the runway length by at least 400', further impacting the runway's capability.
Noise curfew:
SAN is located in a highly populated area. To appease the airport's neighbors' concerns over noise, a curfew was put in place in 1979. Departures are allowed between 6:30 AM and 11:30 PM. Outside those hours, departures are subject to a large fine. Arrivals are permitted 24 hours per day. Several flights are scheduled with departure times before 6:15 AM. These times, however, are pushback times. First takeoff roll is at 6:30 AM.
Current status:
As of June 2007, San Diego International Airport is served by 19 airlines and will fly to 55 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The last intercontinental service was a San Diego-London Heathrow Route served by British Airways. The route was cancelled in 2003. Although the number of passengers passing through SAN has increased dramatically since then, no airlines have decided to file for intercontinental service due to the weight penalties imposed by the rising terrain both east and west of the airport. The weight limitations would damage the economic viability of long haul international service.
USCG operations:
An interesting feature of the airport is the existence of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) air station in the south-east corner of the airfield. The air station is physically separated from the rest of the airfield, such that USCG fixed-wing aircraft must cross a busy, 6-lane city street to reach the runway; street light activation opens the locked gates to the airfiled and the air station, and also stops traffic while aircraft are transversing the street.
- Wikipedia Description: San Diego International Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
San Diego International Airport (IATA: SAN, ICAO: KSAN, FAA LID: SAN), formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport three miles (4.8 km) northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. The airport covers 663 acres (268 ha) of land. While primarily serving domestic traffic, San Diego has nonstop international flights to destinations in Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
San Diego International Airport is the second busiest single-runway airport in the world.[a] The airport's landing approach is well known for its close proximity to the skyscrapers of Downtown San Diego, and can sometimes prove difficult to pilots for the relatively short usable landing area, steep descent angle over the crest of Bankers Hill, and shifting wind currents just before landing. San Diego International operates in controlled airspace served by the Southern California TRACON, which is some of the busiest airspace in the world.
History
Prior to the development of the airport, the area was a delta river outlet for the San Diego River into the San Diego Bay, which was then re routed to terminate to the Pacific Ocean parallel to Mission Bay.
The airport is near the site of the Ryan Airlines factory, but it is not the same as Dutch Flats Airport, the Ryan airfield where Charles Lindbergh flight-tested the Spirit of St. Louis before his historic 1927 transatlantic flight. The site of Dutch Flats is on the other side of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, in the Midway neighborhood, near the intersection of Midway and Barnett avenues.
Inspired by Lindbergh's flight and excited to have made his plane, the city of San Diego passed a bond issue in 1928 for the construction of a two-runway municipal airport. Lindbergh encouraged the building of the airport and agreed to lend his name to it. The new airport, dedicated on August 16, 1928, was San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field with 140 Navy and 82 Army planes involved in a flyover.
The airport was the first federally certified airfield to serve all aircraft types, including seaplanes. The original terminal was on the northeast side of the field, on Pacific Highway. The airport was also a testing facility for several early US sailplane designs, notably those by William Hawley Bowlus (superintendent of construction on the Spirit of St. Louis) who also operated the Bowlus Glider School at Lindbergh Field from 1929 to 1930. The airport was also the site of a national and world record for women's altitude established in 1930 by Ruth Alexander. The airport was also the site of the first transcontinental glider tow by Capt. Frank Hawks departing Lindbergh Field on March 30, 1930, and ending in Van Cortland Park in New York City on April 6, 1930. On June 1, 1930, a regular San Diego–Los Angeles airmail route started. The airport gained international airport status in 1934. In April 1937, United States Coast Guard Air Base was commissioned next to the airfield. The Coast Guard's fixed-wing aircraft used Lindbergh Field until the mid-1990s when their fixed-wing aircraft were assigned elsewhere.
A major defense contractor and contributor to World War II heavy bomber production, Consolidated Aircraft, later known as Convair, had their headquarters on the border of Lindbergh Field, and built many of their military aircraft there. Convair used the airport for test and delivery flights from 1935 to 1995.
The US Army Air Corps took over the field in 1942, improving it to handle the heavy bombers being manufactured in the region. Two camps were established at the airport during World War II and were named Camp Consair and Camp Sahara. This transformation, including an 8,750 ft (2,670 m) runway, made the airport "jet-ready" long before jet airliners came into service. The May 1952 C&GS chart shows an 8,700-ft runway 9 and a 4,500-ft runway 13.
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) established its headquarters in San Diego and started service at Lindbergh Field in 1949. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 42 departures per day: 14 American, 13 United, 6 Western, 6 Bonanza, and 3 PSA (5 PSA on Friday and Sunday). American had a nonstop flight to Dallas and one to El Paso; aside from that, nonstop flights did not reach beyond California and Arizona. Nonstop flights to Chicago started in 1962 and to New York in 1967.
The first scheduled flights using jets at Lindbergh Field were in September 1960: American Airlines Boeing 720s to Phoenix and United Airlines 720s to San Francisco.
The original terminal was on the north side of the airport; the current Terminal 1 opened on the south side of the airport on March 5, 1967. Terminal 2 opened on July 11, 1979. These terminals were designed by Paderewski Dean & Associates. A third terminal, dubbed the Commuter Terminal, opened July 23, 1996. Terminal 2 was expanded by 300,000 square feet (27,871 m2) in 1998, and opened on January 7, 1998. The expanded Terminal 2 and the Commuter Terminal were designed by Gensler and SGPA Architecture and Planning. The airport was built and operated by the City of San Diego through the sale of municipal bonds to be repaid by airport users. In 1962 it was transferred to the San Diego Unified Port District by a state law. In 2001 the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority was created, and assumed jurisdiction over the airport in December 2002. The Authority changed the airport's name from Lindbergh Field to San Diego International Airport in 2003, reportedly considering the new name "a better fit for a major commercial airport."
San Diego gained a nonstop transatlantic flight in March 2001, when British Airways eliminated the halt in Phoenix on its route to London. The airline had served San Diego intermittently since 1988; the flights always included a stopover, however. British Airways left the city in 2003 but returned eight years later.
Relocation proposals
In the jet age there have been concerns about a relatively small airport constrained by terrain serving as the area's primary airport; at one point acting Civil Aeronautics Authority administrator William B. Davis said he doubted any jet airline would use it. In 1950 the city acquired what is today Montgomery Field and much of the land surrounding it through eminent domain to build a new airport, but the Korean War brought with it a massive expansion in jet traffic to nearby Naval Air Station Miramar, which soon rendered a commercial service airport in the area impractical. The CAA refused to fund any major enhancements to SDIA through the 1950s, and at various times the city proposed NAS North Island, Mission Bay, and Brown Field as replacements. Cost, conflicts with the Navy, and potential interference with other air traffic stymied these plans.
It was not until 1964 that the FAA would finally agree to an expansion of SDIA, which at this point was over double the capacity of its 1940s era terminals, leading to the construction of today's Terminal 1. Even then, it was only allowed with the assurance of San Diego Mayor Charles Dail that it was only a temporary measure until a replacement could be found. From that time until 2006, various public agencies conducted studies on potential locations for a replacement airport. One revisited a study done in the 1980s by the City in 1994 when Naval Air Station Miramar closed and was then immediately transferred to the US Marine Corps as Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. 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 is the first study ever done to look for a new site by a public agency that actually had jurisdiction over the issue, and the first non-site specific comprehensive study of the entire region.
California State Assembly Bill 93 created the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA) in 2001. At the time, the SDCRAA projected SAN would be constrained by congestion between 2015 and 2022; the Great Recession, however, extended the forecast capacity limitations into the 2030s. In June 2006, SDCRAA board members selected Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as its preferred site for a replacement airport, despite military objections the compromises this would require would severely interfere with the readiness and training of aviators stationed at the air station. On November 7, 2006, San Diego County residents rejected an advisory relocation ballot that included a joint use proposal measure over these and related concerns over the potential impact reducing the region's military value would have on the defense-focused San Diego economy. Since then no public agency has placed forth a serious proposal to relocate SDIA, and the Airport Authority has stated it has no plans to do so for the foreseeable future.
Expansion
San Diego International Airport's expansion and enhancement program for Terminal 2 was dubbed "The Green Build". Additions include 10 gates on the west side of Terminal 2 West, a two-level roadway separating arriving and departing passengers, additional security lanes, and an expanded concession area. It was completed on August 13, 2013, and cost US$900 million. In January 2016, the airport opened a new consolidated rental car facility on the airport's north side. The US$316 million, 2-million-square-foot (190,000 m2) facility houses 14 rental car companies and is served by shuttle buses to and from the terminals. A new three-story parking structure in front of Terminal 2 was launched in July 2016 and completed in May 2018.
The Airport Development Plan (ADP) is the next master-planning phase for San Diego International Airport. In 2006, a county-wide ballot measure to move the airport was defeated. Therefore, the airport will continue in its current location for the foreseeable future. The ADP identifies improvements that will enable the airport to meet demand through 2035, which is approximately when projected passenger activity levels will reach capacity for the airport's single runway. An additional runway is not under consideration.
The ADP envisions the replacement of Terminal 1 and related improvements. As a first step in the ADP, several potential concepts were developed. These concepts represented the first step in a comprehensive planning process.
Extensive public outreach was conducted to obtain input from residents and airport stakeholders in the San Diego region. The Airport Authority Board eventually selected a preferred alternative and a detailed environmental analysis is now under way. The environmental review and planning process is expected to conclude in spring 2017.
A new immigration and customs facility at Terminal 2 West began construction in 2017. The new facility was completed in June 2018 and is almost five times the size of its predecessor. Prior to its completion, gates 20, 21, and 22 in Terminal 2 East handled international arrivals. These arrivals are now handled at gates 47, 48, 49, 50, and 51 in Terminal 2 West. The construction of the new facility was due to the sharp rise of international travel at the airport; international arrivals increased "from 50,000 passengers a year in 1990 to more than 400,000 a year in 2017."
San Diego International Airport is proceeding with a redevelopment plan, starting with reconstruction of Terminal 1. This work is scheduled to be completed by 2026. The number of gates will increase from 19 gates in the old Terminal 1 to 30 gates in the new Terminal 1. Other parts of the redevelopment plan include a 7,500-space parking structure, a new dual-level roadway in front of the new Terminal 1, and a new entry road. Further changes are scheduled in later years for Terminal 2, which will increase the total number of gates at San Diego International Airport to 61. Completion of these changes are not expected until 2035.
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