FAA Gives Proposed Air Cargo Facility Thumbs Down

SAN DIEGO–Expanded cargo traffic at Brown Field could cause delays on both the ground and in the air at the region’s eight airports, according to a new federal report.

The proposed San Diego Air Commerce Center “works against” the nationalpriority of smoothing air traffic flows and increasing efficiency, according to the report by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The report, issued Sept. 29, asserts that extra flights at Brown Field would slow operations for hours at the Navy’s Imperial Beach facilityand the Tijuana airport. In light of the report, the developer, San Diego Air Commerce Center LLC, has backed away from plans to bring their request for approval of the plan to the city of San Diego City. Foes of the project, meanwhile, say the FAA report proves that this a bad idea.

Developers plan to meet with federal officials this week to see if there us any way to minimize the impacts.