August 01, 2002

Coalition to Push for Progress on Airport Issue

San Diego’s age-old quest for a solution to the region’s air transportation needs got a boost today from a newly established, broad based coalition of civic, business, labor and planning groups seeking progress and a resolution to the county’s airport issue.

The group, Alliance in Support of Airport Progress in the 21st Century (ASAP21), is a coalition that believes San Diego must have a new, world-class, environmentally sound international airport. The group’s member organizations believe that development of such a facility by 2020 is necessary to benefit the regional economy and the quality of life in San Diego county.

San Diego is poised at a unique period in its history where progress on the "airport issue" seems not only possible, but also probable. The completion of a widely distributed Airport Economic Analysis demonstrated conclusively that the region's economy will suffer if we do not plan for a new airport.

The completion of the Lindbergh Master Plan showed that, beyond 2020, our present airport will not be able to meet the region's demand for air transportation. Finally, the establishment of the San Diego Airport Authority means that, for the first time, one government entity is focused solely on addressing the airport issue.

In such an environment, it is critical that supporters and stakeholders of a new airport come together to support the effort of the new Airport Authority and champion the importance of this issue. The establishment of such an alliance is critical before planners begin to focus on a particular site. By organizing early, ASAP21 will be more effective in advocating for airport development once a preferred site is identified.

“ASAP21 is ‘agnostic’ when it comes to site selection,” said John Chalker, the group’s executive director. “The airport transcends parochial interests in promoting any specific site before a thorough review of the technical, economic and environmental issues is complete,” added Chalker.

With respect to specific airport location issues, members of ASAP21 have agreed to “check their baggage at the door.” The coalition partners have agreed to the following assumptions:

1.That an independent airport authority is needed to successfully address this complex issue. This authority was created earlier this year and we support its efforts thus far.

2.The airport is an important factor in regional competitiveness; it’s a critical component of a strong regional economy, and an integral part of a regional transportation system.

3.By 2020, our airport infrastructure will be insufficient to meet the region’s demands. This assumption is well supported by the Airport Economic Analysis, which was completed in January 2001.

4.The new airport should be located within San Diego County because of the tremendous economic benefit that an airport contributes to the region.

5.The new airport needs a minimum of 3,000 acres of land in order to meet the demands of the region well into the future. This size footprint is supported by recent work from the Air Transportation Action Plan (ATAP) study, which is currently in process.

6.There is a need to concurrently build a world-class surface transportation system, including mass transit, to serve the airport.

“We are committed to including other stakeholder groups representing environmental, airline and consumer interests in ASAP21 with the goals of ensuring that the airport development process continues to move forward and that all relevant stakeholder issues are addressed in the process,” said Chalker.

ASAP21 is a political advocacy organization; it is not a planning organization. The group will focus on building political support at the local, state and federal levels, sponsor aviation-oriented forums to better educate the public and the decision makers on aviation related facts and coordinate its member advocacy efforts to make them stronger and more effective. The strength of ASAP21’s broad based membership can provide the political support for decision makers to address the very difficult issue of providing the necessary air transportation infrastructure that is needed to meet the future demands of the San Diego region.

Last Updated: October 03, 2003

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