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.