More dissolving of our nation's borders. Now we are dividing an airport between 2 countries. NAU at work again.


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Tuesday, August 7, 2007 Contact Us Archive






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Cross-border airport terminal under study

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - Travelers could park their cars in San Diego and fly out of Tijuana under a proposal to be studied by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the authority announced Friday.

A so-called "cross-border terminal" would allow passengers to park on the American side and enter the Tijuana airport, which abuts the border, through some kind of dedicated walkway, possibly easing congestion at other local airports, said airport authority spokesman Steven Schultz.

Before the proposal could become a reality, however, the authority wants to know if passengers would go for it.


"We're not really to the stage yet where we're planning how that might look," Shultz said today. "We're planning a demand study to determine what the amount of use or demand for that service would be."

Today, the airport authority named a consultant team and outside advisory group to study the concept.

Infrastructure Management Group Inc. was chosen among four consultant teams interviewed by an airport authority panel in June.

They will work with an outside advisory group of representatives from San Diego Association of Governments, Caltrans, the Mexican government, local economic development groups, airlines at San Diego International Airport, as well as Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, which operates Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana.

"We are excited to get the consultant team and advisory group on board as an important early step in examining the feasibility of this unique, bi- national approach," Thella F. Bowens, president and CEO of the Airport Authority, said today

The study should be completed by the end of the year, Shultz said.

As far as how the terminal would look, ideas range from building a terminal on the U.S. side connected by secured walkway to Tijuana's airport to just placing a walkway from a U.S. parking lot where passengers are processed on the Mexican side, Shultz said.