Mexican Vacation

Quote: Nareed

When pigs fly during a snowstorm in Hell in the fourth of July :)

Possibly it will never happen

Brown Field opened in 1918, but September 1, 1962, the Navy decommissioned NAAS Brown Field again and transferred ownership of Brown Field to the City of San Diego with the condition that it remain a public airport. Tijuana Airport is just over 1 mi (1.6 km) to the south across the Mexico-United States border, with a similar length and a slightly different runway orientation.

So Volaris could not make Brown Field a 5th freedom flight by flying there from Guadalajara and then onwards to Oakland California as 5th freedom means the last two stops have to be in different countries. If they simply restore flights from Tijuana to Oakland, it will be too expensive and cumbersome to cross the bridge ($30 round trip) and fly to Oakland just to go through customs again.

You could try and speed up the customs process by having a pre clearance facility in Tijuana (like the Canadian airports), but it would still be expensive.

It seems like Norwegian Air Shuttle gets around the nonexistent 9th freedom of the air by simply incorporating in Ireland and in the United Kingdom. So they can operate flights from both those countries to the United States.

So why not have Volaris form an American subsidiary so it can fly domestic air routes. While Brown field is probably not attractive to US airlines, it might be attractive to Volaris.

The most popular destinations from SAN airport are all places Volaris already flies to. The half million people that live in southern San Diego county within 10 miles of Brown field would be likely customers.

SFO San Francisco, CA
PHX Phoenix, AZ
LAX Los Angeles, CA
LAS Las Vegas, NV
SJC San Jose, CA
DEN Denver, CO
SEA Seattle, WA
OAK Oakland, CA
SMF Sacramento, CA
DFW Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
ORD Chicago, IL

Quote: Pacomartin

Possibly it will never happen

America needs to reconcile, or choose between, xenophobia and a commitment to free trade.

Quote:

So why not have Volaris form an American subsidiary so it can fly domestic air routes. While Brown field is probably not attractive to US airlines, it might be attractive to Volaris.

I think there's a limit to how much a foreigner can invest in a US airline. Probably 49%. So it would be more like a joint venture or simply an investment. Getting Volaris' jets to actually fly the routes would be complicated or impossible.

But it's a creative way of making use of a second city airport.

Quote: Nareed

I think there's a limit to how much a foreigner can invest in a US airline. Probably 49%. So it would be more like a joint venture or simply an investment. Getting Volaris' jets to actually fly the routes would be complicated or impossible.
But it's a creative way of making use of a second city airport.

The Border Zone, (25 miles in California and Texas, and bigger in New Mexico and Arizona) has special economic rules. Perhaps they could authorize Mexican airlines to fly from US airports in the BZ to other US domestic airports as well without upsetting the entire international aviation system.

McAllen Miller International Airport in Texas (6 miles from Mexican border) also has very limited flights as well considering the urban areas has a population of 728,825.

The problem with San Diego county is that it is very hilly. The remote locations to the West of the mountains would still require billions of dollars in fill to level the land, and if you cross the mountains even the interstates are twisty


These were the 23 scenarios considered. #9 was to close SDIA completely and share the Tijuana airport
1. McClellan-Palomar Airport Area serves as a full service north county airport + SDIA serves destination less than 500 miles
2. McClellan-Palomar Airport Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
3. Oceanside Area serves as a full service north county airport + SDIA serves destination less than 500 miles
4. Oceanside Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
5. Ramona Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
6. MCAS Miramar serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
7. NAS North Island serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
8. March AFB serves as a full service north county airport + SDIA serves destination less than 500 miles
9. Tijuana Rodriguez International Airport serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
10. National City Bayfront Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
11. Off-Shore Floating Airport serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
12. Salt Marsh Naval Communications Station Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
13. Silver Strand Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
14. MCB Camp Pendleton serves as a full service north county airport + SDIA serves destination less than 500 miles
15. MCB Camp Pendleton serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
16. East Miramar serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
17. Otay Mesa Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
18. Warner Springs Area serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
19. Cross Border Terminal to Tijuana Rodriguez International Airport is an airside only facility + SDIA is a landside only facility
20. North Island Intertie is an airside only facility + SDIA is a landside only facility
21. Desert Site serves as a replacement airport + SDIA is closed
22. Warner Springs Area serves as a full service North County airport + SDIA serves destination less than 500 miles.
23. North Island Intertie is an airside only facility + SDIA is a landside and airside facility.

#22 is a remote portion of county with a small glider airport at elevation 2864', http://www.skysailing.com/dir/

Back before WWII when they built railroads through the back county they needed huge trestles


Even restricting flights to 500 nmi from Brown field would go to most of the busiest destinations from SAN airport