The excitement builds ...

... for the next Goodwill Ambassadors session, just over a week away. Goodwill Ambassadors, look what's headed your way!


(Click the image above to make it larger and more readable.)

Sorry folks, this event is for Airport Authority employees only. Looks like fun, doesn't it? Don't worry, though: you're bound to see future postings here about how it went!

As cold as ice

We are truly lucky to work in San Diego, America’s Finest City. You realize just how lucky when you aren’t in San Diego ...

On a recent Saturday morning, I flew from San Diego International Airport (SAN) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD). Stepping off of the MD80 aircraft, I was greeted with a temperature of 14 degrees Fahrenheit ... 14 degrees Fahrenheit! In mid-March!! Needless to say, I nearly froze. OK, so I was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt - but that is really beside the point.

After walking through O'Hare's K Concourse, I boarded my next flight to Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). We were lucky enough to get de-iced, something we rarely, if ever, see in San Diego. I snapped this photo:


In southern California we don’t have to deal with pesky things like de-icing and snow removal. After a quick call to our Airside Operations Department, I did learn that a couple of the airlines here at SAN do have de-icing equipment on hand, for those rare times when we drop below freezing.

Yes, we are lucky indeed!

18.3 million – Now there’s a number to know!

Did you see the news release that came out in January announcing the 2007 passenger numbers for San Diego International Airport? We served 18.3 million passengers – wow! (You can see just some of them in the airport's Terminal 2 West, above). That’s an all-time high for our airport. And it’s the fourth year in a row that we’ve broken our passenger volume record.

First of all, the sheer number of people who come through the airport every year is amazing. That is a lot of customers to serve! It’s even more than the number of people who visit Disneyland in Anaheim each year! (The Magic Kingdom gets about 16 million visitors a year.)

The continually growing number of passengers we serve makes me think about our region’s air transportation needs. There’s obviously no perfect new site for a major airport in San Diego. And there’s no way to morph Lindbergh Field into an ideal solution that meets all of the region’s needs. So our planning team and our Board are working hard to come up with the best answers possible.

And I have to mention that I think the name for the planning efforts – SANPlan –is just great. Very catchy. Have you been to the SANPlan.com website lately? The planning timeline page there has a succinct overview of key points that all Goodwill Ambassadors should know.

The plans for near-term improvements to San Diego International Airport haven’t been finalized quite yet, and any construction won’t start until at least next year. Yet, all the while, our passenger numbers are growing even faster than the experts predicted.

So what can a Goodwill Ambassador do about that?

I think it’s our duty as Goodwill Ambassadors to get the word out to our friends, families and community contacts about these important facts:

• Let people know that the airport is busier than ever, and that they should plan accordingly.
  
  
• Inform them about the SANPlan improvements that are being discussed.
  
  
• Tell them about our community meetings and theTerminals to Tarmac public tours that we offer.
  
  
• And, as I said in one of my recent Goodwill Ambassablog posts, "Cell phone coolness at the airport," we can make sure people know about the Cell Phone Waiting Lot to make their passenger pickups easier.

Personally, I think my biggest challenge as an airport employee will be trying to be a patient driver as North Harbor Drive backs up with more and more airport traffic. But, as a Goodwill Ambassador, I vow to try to remain calm, drive safely – and allow for a few extra minutes in my commute every day!

Ambassa-Quiz #6 answer: McClellan-Palomar Airport

Goodwill Ambassa-Quiz #6 asked what is the only other airport in San Diego County, other than the big one (San Diego International Airport) to offer flights to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The answer -- correctly picked by an impressive 92% of respondents -- is McClellan-Palomar Airport, a county-operated airport in Carlsbad (pictured above).

At McClellan-Palomar Airport, Vision Airlines provides flights to Las Vegas, and air taxi and charter services can fly you to Los Angeles.

Check the sidebar to the left for Ambassa-Quiz #7. Warning: it may be our toughest quiz yet, requiring a bit of research. Good luck!

TSA enters the Blogosphere

Here at the Goodwill Ambassablog, we're always on the lookout for other airports and aviation-related entities who are venturing into the Blogosphere in interesting ways. Considering that the Goodwill Ambassablog is currently one of the only employee blogs at an airport in the United States, it can get a little lonely out here! So we're always excited when another aviation-related employee blog shows up on the scene to help keep us company.

Thanks to the alertness of Colm in the airport's Public, Community and Customer Relations Department, we were recently reminded of a very popular employee blog launched a couple months ago (around the same time the Goodwill Ambassablog was born) by none other than the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Called
Evolution of Security, it addresses security issues of interest to airport passengers around the country.

How often have you (or someone you know) wanted the chance tell the TSA what you think of them, good or bad? Well, that's the purpose of the TSA's new employee blog. It contains interesting posts on the TSA's latest security initiatives, useful passenger security tips, lots of cool videos ... and hundreds of comments from the public. Check it out, and have your say!

Note: If you know of a cool airport- or aviation-related employee blog, let us know about it so we can consider mentioning it on the Goodwill Ambassablog for others to see. Just click on "comments" below to submit a link to the blog you're recommending.

Hablamos español ahora

NOTE: Today's Goodwill Ambassablog posting is the first-ever in two languages ... and the first joint posting by all three Goodwill Ambassabloggers. They teamed up to submit a special posting in Spanish, showing off the language skills they are learning in a Spanish class offered by the Airport Authority to its employees. Below is their posting, first in Spanish, followed by its English translation.

In Spanish:

¿Puedes leer este blog?

Nosotros (los Ambassabloggers Dennise, Mary y Ryan (aka ‘Pedro’) estamos tomamos una clase de español que está ofriendo la Autoridad. Creemos que es una buena idea escribir un blog en español. ¡Qué divertido!

Nuestra profesora se llama Nora. Ella es muy inteligente, amable y divertida. (Mira la photo aquí.)

El español es muy importante en San Diego y en nuestro aeropuerto. Hay muchas personas que hablan español en el aeropuerto todos los dias. Escuchamos español en las terminales frecuentemente. A veces los pasajeros quieren direcciones; a veces ellos quieren algo de comer y beber. Ahora nosotros podemos ayudarles más.

¿Recuerdas el blog del Ambassablogger ‘Pedro’ con las fotos del Aeropuerto Internacional de Tijuana? Es claro que el español es muy importante para la Autoridad.

¡Adios por ahora, y hasta la vista, amigos!


English translation:

Can you read this blog?

We (the Ambassabloggers Dennise, Mary and Ryan (aka ‘Pedro’) are taking a Spanish class offered by the Authority now. We think it’s a good idea to write a blog posting in Spanish. How fun!

Our professor is named Nora. She is very intelligent, friendly and fun. Look at the photo here.

Spanish is very important in San Diego and in our airport. There are many people who speak Spanish in the airport every day. We hear Spanish in the terminals frequently. Sometimes the passengers want directions; sometimes they want something to eat and drink. Now we can help the passengers more.

Remember the blog posting by Ambassablogger ‘Pedro’ with the photos of Tijuana International Airport? It’s clear that Spanish is very important to the Authority.

Farewell for now; we’ll see you around, friends!

On the border

View Larger Map

One of the projects I'm working on in Airport Planning is the Airport Border Crossing (ABC) Market Demand Study. The goal of the study is to understand whether, in the U.S, people would use a facility adjacent to Tijuana International Airport to fly into and out of that airport. (Remember from Goodwill Ambassa-Quiz #5 that Tijuana airport's official name is the General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport).

Look at this aerial photo of the area around Tijuana International Airport, which is just south of the border. Look how close it is to the border! The airfield just north of the border is Brown Field., a small airport owned and operated by the City of San Diego.

The ABC concept is one worth exploring as part of the Airport Authority's continuing efforts to examine ways to meet the long-term air transportation needs of the region. We've learned about some of these efforts in the Goodwill Ambassador sessions.

For the ABC Market Demand Study, data is being collected in a variety of ways, including from our friends at:

• the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)
  
• Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)
  
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  
• and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

We are also getting important data from phone interviews and passenger surveys here at San Diego International Airport (SDIA). A big thank you to everyone in the Airport Authority's Landside Operations Departent, plus Cindy, Sandi, Marla, Vince and Annette for helping out.

Here is clickable Fact Sheet about the Airport Border Crossing:

Read this doc on Scribd: Airport Border Crossing 11 29 07

Take a look at some shots I took on a recent tour of Tijuana International Airport. Here's a Boeing 737 belonging to Avolar, a Tijuana-based low cost air carrier:
And here's an AeroMexico Boeing 777 (by the way, AeroMexico also serves SDIA with daily service to Los Cabos):

The ABC Market Demand Study is about two-thirds done and is scheduled to be presented to the Airport Authority Board in April, 2008. As we reach key milestones, I will update all of you on the status of this exciting project.

Treasure Hunt WINNERS

Congratulations to the 15 Airport Authority employees who emerged victorious in the first-ever Goodwill Ambassablog TREASURE HUNT yesterday. Seven of them are pictured here, holding their Southwest Boarding School diplomas and Starbucks gift cards. From left: Kelly, Clarke, Suzie, Kendy, Amy, Dan and Mukundhan.

The Treasure Hunt went live at 3:00 p.m. PST yesterday, and the first correct response came in a mere ten minutes later. The 15th correct response came in at 3:27 p.m. That's some speedy navigation of the Goodwill Ambassablog! Here's what the 'treasure' -- a Southwest Boarding School Diploma -- looks like.


Our hats go off to the 15 winners (listed by first name and department, with the time of their winning submission). They'll soon be enjoying some yummy Starbucks coffee:

1. Kelly, Information Technology -- 3:10
2. Suzie, Office of General Counsel -- 3:10
3. Marla, Airport Systems Planning -- 3:11
4. Mukundhan, Information Technology -- 3:11
5. Garrett, Airport Noise Mitigation -- 3:12
6. Joseph, Facilities Development -- 3:12
7. Kendy, Office of General Counsel -- 3:13
8. Dan, Airport Noise Mitigation -- 3:16
9. Laurel, Real Estate Management -- 3:17
10. Amy, Regional Airports Business Relations & Services -- 3:17
11. Liz, Accounting -- 3:17
12. Amelia, Inter-Governmental Relations -- 3:19
13. Clarke, Information Technology -- 3:23
14. Ed, Airport Planning -- 3:25
15. Karie, Procurement -- 3:27

NOTE: It turns out a few Airport Authority employees got a dreaded message from the Southwest Boarding School when trying to complete the Treasure Hunt. Something about not having the proper 'school supplies' to get their diploma. In most cases, this was due to having a computer without the proper version of Adobe Flash installed. This prevented them from completing the Treasure Hunt. Our sympathies go out to them. The silver lining? Now those employees will be getting Flash installed on their computers! (They just need to talk to Information Technology.)

TREASURE HUNT time!

OK, here it is: the first-ever Goodwill Ambassablog TREASURE HUNT.

NOTE: While anyone can take part in the Treasure Hunt, only employees of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority are eligible for the prizes ($5 Starbucks gift cards) that will go to the first 15 employees who successfully complete the Treasure Hunt. Also, Goodwill Ambassabloggers and Airport Authority Public & Community Relations employees are exempt from the contest.

To find the treasure and get your prize, follow these steps:

1. One of the archived posts on the Goodwill Ambassablog talks about the new boarding system being used by San Diego International Airport's biggest carrier, Southwest Airlines. Find that post. (HINT: Archived posts can be accessed through a drop-down menu in the right-hand sidebar.)
   
   
2. Follow a link in that post to the Southwest Airlines Boarding School.
   
   
3. Once there, figure out how to earn an instant online Southwest Boarding School Diploma. This is the treasure you are looking for!
   
   
4. Once you have gotten a Southwest Boarding School Diploma with your name on it, print it out. (If you're a top-15 winner, you'll need this to claim your prize.)
   
   
5. Create an e-mail. Put in the subject line of your email the words: Treasure Found. In the body of your e-mail, type in all the words that are on your Southwest Boarding School Diploma, including your name.
   
   
6. Send that e-mail to: kjones@san.org. Your e-mail should be sent from your Airport Authority e-mail account. If not, then you your diploma must contain both your first and last name -- otherwise we won't know who you are!
   

That's it! If you are one of the first 15 Airport Authority employees to send an e-mail containing all the words on your diploma to kjones@san.org, you will get a return e-mail by tomorrow morning notifying you that you are a winner and how to pick up your $5 Starbucks gift card. If you do not receive a return e-mail by tomorrow morning, sorry -- better luck next time!

Good luck ... now get hunting!

The Goodwill Ambassablog Treasure Hunt

Airport Authority employees, listen up! Check back here at 3:00 p.m. PST tomorrow -- Thursday, March 6, 2008 -- for the first-ever Goodwill Ambassablog TREASURE HUNT ... and a chance to win a $5 Starbucks Gift Card.

Valet parking comes to San Diego International Airport

WOW! Just think how fortunate we are, as Goodwill Ambassadors, to be able to share good news and interesting facts about the airport with our families, friends and community contacts. And think of how interesting the work we do here at the airport might be to those on the outside. As Goodwill Ambassadors, sharing that with others is one of the best things we can do.

For example, I get to work on the coolest projects here at the airport! Every day, it is reinforced just how fortunate I am to have this job. I look back over the projects I’ve had the opportunity to work on, such as helping new airlines set up their communications services at the airport – most recently Virgin America. I also was a member of the team that installed the airport’s free WiFi service in all the terminals! I learned so much working that project.

It’s always a great day when you get to learn something new! The most recent project I had the opportunity to help with is the airport’s new Valet Parking Service! Jennifer and Jim in Ground Transportation did an awesome job of getting this service up and running!

Lindbergh Parking, the company that operates the near-term parking lots at the airport, opened the Valet Parking operation for service at 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 19. As you can see from this picture, it was a very successful first day! Passengers were using the service on the first day, even without the new services being advertised yet!

Pictured here are some of the friendly Valet Parking crew you’ll find curbside at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The Valet attendants can easily be spotted in their bright red jackets. You will also find friendly faces at the two Valet Parking cashier counters located inside both Terminals 1 and 2. These counters are located in Terminal 1 near the escalators that come down into the baggage claim area from the foot bridge, and in the Terminal 2 you see them just as you are walking from the baggage claim in Terminal 2 West to Terminal 2 East. The phone number for the new Valet Parking service is (619) 400-2121.

Until next time ...