An attorney for a Carlsbad group opposed to any expansion of McClellan-Palomar Airport has sent a letter to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors urging it to deny the return of daily service by American Airlines.
The board is set to approve a two-year lease Wednesday that would bring back American Eagle, a regional service of American Airlines, for twice-daily commercial flights from the county-owned Carlsbad airport to Phoenix beginning Feb. 13.
The local group Citizens for a Friendly Airport believes the county is “attempting to circumvent environmental review” as required by the California Environmental Quality Act, states a Dec. 6 letter from Kathryn Pettit of the Chatten-Brown Law Group in San Diego.
The commercial flights will “use the airport in a way that was not previously authorized” and as a result the lease would violate the county’s updated airport master plan, the letter states. The general aviation airport is used almost entirely by private and corporate aircraft.
“This contract with American Airlines is yet another example of the county’s efforts to circumnavigate the substantive requirements for changing the airport’s designation by contracting with incompatibly large aircraft,” it states.
American Eagle previously flew daily from Carlsbad to Los Angeles from 1991 to 1997. United Express provided regular service between Carlsbad and Los Angeles from 1996 to 2016. United used a 30-passenger turboprop for the flights, which ceased when the company switched to a new fleet of jets that needed a longer runway.
The runway at Carlsbad’s Palomar airport is 4,897 feet long. The county’s largest airport, San Diego International, has a 9,401-foot-long runway.
For Carlsbad’s new service, American Airlines will operate the Embraer 175 aircraft (EMB 175), which is a dual-engine jet with a maximum of 76 seats, according to a county staff report.
“Simply put, the AA jet is far too large for Palomar Airport,” states a “call to action” email from the airport group urging people to contact county officials and oppose approval at Wednesday’s board meeting.
“This contract will take a safe airport and make it unsafe,” the email states. “The runway is too short, the plane’s wings are too wide, and to land safely, the jet has to come in much faster than the airport is designed for.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to declare the airport safe for the EMB 175 aircraft within 30 to 60 days of the start of the new contract, the county staff report states.
Citizens for A Friendly Airport filed a lawsuit against the county in 2018 challenging its approval of the airport’s master plan update.
Superior Court Judge Gregory Pollack ruled Jan. 26, 2021, that the update was invalid and that the county must do more to comply with the state Environmental Quality Act. The county revoked its approval, revised the update with additional noise studies and other modifications, and approved the new version in December 2021.
The final version of the update includes a long-term plan to lengthen the Palomar runway by 200 feet. County officials said the additional length would make the runway safer for aircraft already landing there and allow planes to take off carrying more fuel.
The proposed new uses are within the airport’s capacity and will require no additional facilities, the county report states.
As part of the county airport system, Palomar is operated, maintained and improved with revenue from airport leases along with state and federal grants.
Each year of the contract is expected to generate about $607,000 in fees and charges from the airline. However, as an incentive to sign the contract, the county has agreed to waive a little more than $350,000 in fees during the first year only.
