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!