United Airlines said it wants to fly out of North County’s McClellan-Palomar Airport again, starting next March 30.
“United used to fly into Carlsbad. It's been over a decade ago and it was on a smaller airplane to just Los Angeles. So we're no stranger to the airport,” said the carrier’s Mark Weithofer.
He is United's managing director of domestic network planning.
Weithofer said they stopped flying out of Palomar in 2015 because they no longer had the right kind of aircraft for the runway. Now, they do.
“The evolution of the aircraft in the regional network has enabled this,” he said.
United plans to use the Embraer 175 aircraft for the new flights. Weithofer said the aircraft models they plan to use at Palomar seat 70 passengers.
The airline is proposing two round trip flights a day to Denver, and another two to San Francisco.
It would be the first time Palomar Airport ever offered commercial service to those locations.
“There’s already a lot of demand that uses San Diego to get to these destinations and we think offering service to Carlsbad will make it even easier for customers to go from Carlsbad across the United network,” Weithofer said.
This would be Palomar’s second commercial carrier, after nearly a decade without any commercial service.
American Airlines started flying to Phoenix twice a day in February.
“The flights that have been announced and the flights that have been in place really serve North County’s leisure and our business travel,” said San Diego North Economic Development Council CEO Erik Bruvold.
He said adding more commercial flights at Palomar will help serve the growing North County region.
The closest other options for commercial flights are San Diego International Airport — 35 miles to the south — or Orange County’s John Wayne Airport — almost 60 miles north.
“1.2 million people in San Diego County live north of State Route 56. If we look at the percentage of jobs in the region – about 37 to 38% of the total jobs are in North County,” Bruvold said.
In anticipation of its new service, United began pre-selling tickets last week. Still, the county Board of Supervisors has to approve the flights – and not everyone is excited.
Citizens for a Friendly Airport has an unresolved lawsuit against the county over the American Airlines flights.
The lawsuit says the expansion of service violates California’s Environmental Quality Act, as well as planning and zoning laws and a past court order.
The organization’s attorney Cory Briggs sent KPBS a statement.
“It appears that the county is planning to compound its illegal use of the airport for large commercial flights by adding yet another airline to the list,” he said.
Briggs also said the group will monitor the plan and take appropriate action if the Board of Supervisors “decides to double-down” on what the suit says is illegal use of the airport.
County spokesperson Donna Durckel also sent KPBS a statement:
“Consistent with the FAA grant assurances, as a commercial airport, McClellan-Palomar is required to accommodate these regional aircraft flights,” she said. “Also, these operations are allowed within the airport’s Conditional Use Permit and Master Plan.”
United said the earliest flight is proposed to leave Palomar around 7:30 a.m. and the last flight would return before 10 p.m., in accordance with the airport’s Voluntary Noise Abatement Program.
“If the demand is really good … that would open up the door for more flights in the future,” Weithofer said.
Durckel said the proposed lease with United Airlines is scheduled to go to the Board of Supervisors for consideration in January or February 2026.
