Tijuana Has Airport Plans of Its Own : Transportation: TwinPorts is not part of them, Mexican officials say. The expansion of Rodriguez International will mean jumbo jet capacity by May.

Officials in Tijuana announced Wednesday that they are moving forward with the expansion of Rodriguez International Airport, despite a debate in San Diego County over whether to develop the so-called TwinPorts binational airport.

The Tijuana plan will give that airport two runways able to handle jumbo jets, a capacity that San Diego lacks. The first such flight from Tijuana is scheduled for May.

“We’re giving out the information that TwinPorts is not going to be part of our plans . . . the Mexican plans,” said Fidel Torres, executive assistant for Felipe Baril, administrator of the Tijuana airport.

The proposed TwinPorts would straddle the U.S.-Mexico border on a 3,000-acre site in Otay Mesa. The airport would be jointly developed by the two countries, which would share runways, taxiways and a control tower, but would have separate passenger terminals and customs facilities.

Despite the debate among San Diegans on whether to move forward with TwinPorts, Torres said, his government will continue with plans it launched last year to expand Rodriguez.

Torres outlined the plans, which carry a $300- to $400-million price tag, at a news conference in Tijuana.

They include an expansion of the airport’s existing runway and the construction of a second, 11,500-foot runway, which is now more than 30% complete.

Both runways would have the capacity to handle 747 jumbo jets, which would mean the airport could offer international flights to Asian countries such as Japan, Hong Kong and Korea.

The first such flight is scheduled for May and will leave Tijuana for Honolulu and then continue to Tokyo.

Plans also call for a taxiway that leads jumbo jets to an 80,000-square-meter service and repair facility dubbed Matrix that is under construction, Torres said. An international terminal and a general aviation terminal are also planned.

“The plan is consistent with President Salinas’ desires that Tijuana become a major international airport,” Torres said. When completed, the expansion is expected to more than double the airport’s existing capacity of 2 million people a year.

What effect, if any, Wednesday’s announcement will have on the TwinPorts option is a point of contention among the plan’s friends and foes.

County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who attended the news conference, assailed the TwinPorts option as “economically ludicrous.”

“Right now, TwinPorts is on a life-support system, and it’s being artificially maintained. It was a desperate proposal to begin with,” Bilbray said in an interview before the news conference. “The fact is they’ve (Mexico) already got this built, while we’ve only sat and talked about it.”

Bilbray said the Mexican government plans to have most of the new construction completed within two to three years.

“They’re moving ahead, and they figure by the time they finish, our studies will be dead and gone, and we’ll be ready to use their facilities,” Bilbray said. “Frankly, right now we ought to get our side ready for them with a pedestrian access so that people won’t have to drive into Mexico.”

But the announcement didn’t seem to change the view of TwinPorts proponents such as San Diego City Councilman Ron Roberts.

Mike Abrams, an aide to Roberts, said Mexico’s plans to expand the Tijuana airport don’t conflict with the TwinPorts option, which also calls for the expansion of that airport.

“The fact that they’re moving forward with their airport plans is fine and good,” Abrams said. “The question now is whether Mr. Baril plans to try and stop us in moving forward with our airport plans. That would be an interesting posture to take.”

But Torres said his government has no plans to adjust the position of the second runway at Rodriguez to coincide with the TwinPorts option.

Frustrated by years of civic paralysis on the issue of a new airport for San Diego County, TwinPorts proponents hail their plan as the most viable solution to a question that has been a staple of the city’s political agenda for decades.

With the physical limitations of Lindbergh Field’s 475 acres severely restricting expansion, city leaders have long planned to construct a second major airport. Lindbergh is nearing capacity both because its single runway is too short for jumbo jets and because of limited traffic access.

Although some people have alternately promoted Lindbergh’s expansion or closure, others have pushed for joint military-commercial use of Miramar Naval Air Station or for other North County sites.

A 15-page booklet designed to spark public discussion on a series of airport options, including TwinPorts, was released last Thursday by San Diego Dialogue, a nonpartisan organization composed of local business leaders, media representatives and civic leaders.

Faced with tough questions about whether and where to build a new airport in San Diego County, the group included in the booklet the pros and cons of four solutions to the airport question. It briefly mentioned the expansion of the Tijuana airport, but not as one of the four major options.

The booklet says that TwinPorts would be a first step toward overcoming a history of transportation isolationism between the United States and Mexico, said Chuck Nathanson, executive director of San Diego Dialogue.

But building an airport on Otay Mesa would also probably mean the closure of Lindbergh Field and would concentrate both the positive and negative effects of a new airport in South County, Nathanson said.

The latter point is of concern to Bilbray and others with ties to South County.

“It is in my back yard. It (the expansion of the Tijuana airport) could keep air traffic out from over my constituents and keep it over Mexico,” Bilbray said. “It also gets the job done cheaper.”

David Gomez, a member of Citizens Revolting Against Pollution, a South Bay environmental group, said he also favors Mexico’s expansion plans over the TwinPorts option.

“It would be better for California, and when Mexico is doing it, great,” Gomez said. “There’d be less pollution on the American side, but for the people here in Mexico there will be more pollution.”

Tijuana Airport Expansion

A) Existing runway at Rodriguez International Airport with a 2,400-foot extension added last year. The extension allows Boeing 747 jumbo jets to take off and land, so Rodriguez can now offer international flights. The first is scheduled for May, from Tijuana to Honolulu and then on to Tokyo.

B) The airport’s existing terminal, which will undergo modest expansions.

C) An international terminal will be constructed at the border. Whether San Diego County officials plan to build a pedestrian terminal to connect the two countries is a point of debate.

D) A second, 11,500-foot runway is planned and is to be completed by November. The additional runway will also have the capacity to serve jumbo jets.

E) The Mexican government’s plans also call for the construction of a terminal for general aviation. Completion by 1994.

F) Land is now being graded for an 80,000-square-meter service and repair base dubbed Matrix. The complex is designed to serve jumbo jets from around the world. Matrix is to operational by November.

G) A taxiway will be built to move jumbo jets to the Matrix service and repair base.

Source : Mexican Direccion General de Aeronautica