San Diego International Airport: successfully fighting to grow, despite opposition to relocation

San Diego International Airport capped off a solid 2014 with roughly 5.9% passenger growth, buoyed in part by long-haul flights to Tokyo and continued expansion by the facility's largest airline, Southwest Airlines.

It is welcome growth for an airport attempting to attract new international offerings with a finite amount of space and operational constraints stemming from the location of the airport's single runway.

After failed attempts in the middle of the last decade to relocate the airport to an area that would support potentially substantial economic growth for the community, San Diego finds itself working to maximise the offerings of its existing footprint through a two phase expansion to increase passenger throughput. The constraints place San Diego in an unenviable position as it competes to capture international service, but it is having some wins.