County approves more commercial flights for Carlsbad airport

San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors approved a lease Wednesday allowing United Airlines to resume daily commercial flights out of McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad beginning March 30.

The 4-1 decision came despite opposition from residents and Carlsbad city officials. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, whose district includes Carlsbad, said she could not support the lease without a written requirement for planes to only operate between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The county and city should work together to “get the V out of VNAP,” Lawson-Remer said, referring to the “voluntary noise abatement program” in place for aircraft using the Palomar Airport. All in-flight operations are controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration, and only the FAA can make the program mandatory.

Years ago, the county tried to make noise-abatement procedures mandatory and failed, a county staffer said, and today, with more efficient and quieter aircraft, approval remains unlikely.

Jason Haber, Carlsbad’s intergovernmental affairs director, said Wednesday the lease is an expansion of airport services that could violate a conditional use permit issued by the city in 1980.

“The county’s recent actions … demonstrate a shift to a higher level of operations at the airport … (and) reflect poorly on good stewardship,” Haber said at the supervisors’ meeting.

The county needs to apply for an amendment to the permit before approving the lease, Haber said. County officials said no amendment is necessary because the return of commercial service is not an expansion of airport activities.

United will be the second airline to return to Carlsbad after American Airlines resumed flights less than a year ago.

A pending lawsuit filed by the local group Citizens for a Friendly Airport and backed by the city has challenged the county’s approval of the American lease. The lawsuit alleges the lease violates the California Environmental Quality Act on issues such as noise and air pollution, and that it allows American to exceed a county policy that limits aircraft using the airport to a maximum of 70 seats.

“You are not fooling anybody,” Citizens group founding member Hope Nelson told the board Wednesday. “This is just the beginning.”

More commercial flights will be coming to the airport, Nelson said, especially if the county builds an extension of the runway allowed under the county’s airport master plan.

The Carlsbad City Council frequently hears complaints from residents about after-hours noise from aircraft and pilots who fly low over residential neighborhoods instead of following the recommended flight patterns.

Supervisor Jim Desmond, a retired Delta Airlines pilot, moved for approval of the lease. He said that American, United and Delta airlines all flew regular flights out of Carlsbad in the mid-1990s.

Commercial service has been off-and-on over the years, in part because the flights weren’t always profitable and because the types of aircraft used were retired.

“I understand the concerns of the community,” Desmond said. “Airplanes can be noisy.”

However, aircraft are allowed to use the airport 24 hours a day, he said. The county cannot prevent anyone from flying into or out of the airport.

More than 90% of airport capital costs are funded by the FAA, said county airports director Jamie Abbott. For Palomar, that’s a total of $53 million so far.

Refusing the lease could be considered discriminatory and could result in the FAA cancelling grants or even requiring the return of the money, Abbott said.

The three-year lease approved Tuesday begins March 1 and extends through Feb. 28, 2029, and includes two optional one-year extensions.

The lease is expected to produce $1,056,322 annually in revenue for the county, Abbott said. A waiver for only the first year reduces the revenue for that year to $538,722 to cover the airline’s startup costs.

United has said it will operate four daily flights from Palomar: two to San Francisco and two to Denver using the Embraer 175 aircraft. The earliest flight will depart at 7:30 a.m., and the last flight would return at 9:50 p.m.

American also uses the Embraer 175, which Desmond said is quieter than some of the business jets at the airport, Desmond said. The new jets are also quieter than the turboprop aircraft used for previous commercial flights.

The airport opened in 1959 at its present location at the northwest corner of El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road, where it was relocated from Del Mar to accommodate the construction of Interstate 5. Carlsbad annexed the airport and surrounding property in 1978.