An international aviation official says Lindbergh Field can not support the region's air traffic demand forever. Airports Council International spokesman Steve Martin says all the analysis he's seen indicates there will be a need for a larger Lindbergh Field or a new airport by 2015.
He says larger planes won't solve the impending congestion problem. Martin - speaking on KPBS Radio's These Days program - says he learned that, while working on a similar problem at Boston's Logan Airport.
Martin: It does create a false hope, and I'll say this from personal experience, that you can make the problem go away because you've succeeded at ratcheting up the aircraft size by ten percent. You've put off the date where your going to have a material problem with delays and capacity.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority hopes to pick a location for a new or larger airport by the end of Spring. Voters would weigh in on the site in November.
