Federal Official Says TwinPorts Is Feasible

The proposed TwinPorts binational airport straddling the U.S.-Mexico border makes sense if the population of Southern California continues to grow, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Samuel Skinner said Monday.

In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, Skinner said that, although sovereignty and other issues would have to be worked out between the United States and Mexico, such an airport would not be difficult to operate.

He cited the Basel-Mulhouse Airport on the border of Switzerland and France as an example of tri-national cooperation. The airport has dual access from Basel, Switzerland, and Mulhouse, France, and offers bus service to Germany.

“It can work very easily,” Skinner said, adding that the issue of a U.S.-Mexico airport would be a question not of borders but of population growth.

“Conceptually, the idea of a joint airport seems to make some sense if we’re going to see that population continue to grow,” he said from his Washington office.

Skinner said the Bush Administration is not prepared to take a stance on the proposed airport without more study.