A county board is set to vote on American's lease at the airport.
An Envoy Air Embraer E175 (Photo: Envoy Air)
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors plans to vote Wednesday on a lease that would revive daily American Airlines service at McClellan-Palomar Airport.
Approval of the lease with American would allow the airline to begin operating twice-daily flights from Carlsbad, California, to Phoenix beginning Feb. 13. The airport is now mostly used by business jet and general aviation operators.
American plans to operate the 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft, according to the proposal. San Diego County completed more than $20 million in airport improvements from 2008 to 2011 with the goal of resuming commercial service, which the proposal says will allow “the County to maximize the return on these investments, as well as [strengthen] the economy through job creation, increased access to air travel, and additional infrastructure investments.”
Local group Citizens for a Friendly Airport opposes the plan due to fear of “over operational expansion.” The airport, which opened in 1959, initially served as a connection to major cities after debuting commercial flight service in 1991. United was the last major carrier to serve the airport, dropping its route to Los Angeles in 2015.
The lease would allow American to use two ticket counter spaces, a kiosk, and office space at the passenger terminal to support about 150 employees.
One of the flights beginning in February would operate at 6:15 a.m. County officials requested the airline not operate before 7 a.m. but lack the authority to issue a curfew for American.
The airline cannot meet the quiet hours requirements due to the need to connect passengers to other flights in Phoenix, the proposal says. Only the Federal Aviation Administration can enforce a curfew.
In response to this, the county has expanded its noise monitoring efforts by installing additional noise monitors in local communities and taken other measures to minimize noise for residents.
American would pay $606,678 per year for the two-year lease, but the county would partially waive fees during the first year of operations, reducing the first-year revenue to $255,250. The county owns and operates eight airports, and money generated from the American Airlines lease would go into an airport fund.
Resuming passenger service to McClellan-Palomar would help raise the airport’s annual FAA entitlement funding from $150,000 to $1 million once the airport exceeded 10,000 enplaned passengers.
Receive a daily dose of the airline industry's top stories along with market insights right in your inbox.
During the upcoming summer season, Delta plans on increasing flights to leisure destinations in Alaska and even announced bolstering of…
One Arizona airport will see scheduled flights again after a half-century hiatus. Safford Regional Airport lost all air service in…
When we think of lackluster airport terminals, the old LaGuardia concourses might come to mind. Perhaps the “temporary” Concourse C…
