On the border

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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.