Ballardian

San Diego group promotes floating airport
A local group is promoting a plan to replace Lindbergh Field with an international airport off the coast of San Diego.
Courtesy of Yoshiyuki Inoue.

Updated: 09/24/05
ESCONDIDO, Calif., Sept. 23 (UPI) —

A local group is promoting a plan to replace Lindbergh Field with an international airport off the coast of San Diego.

The proposed floating airport would be located in the Pacific Ocean, between the Orange County line and the Mexican border

A similar airport plan was rejected by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority in 2003.

The group Euphlotea — the middle syllable is pronounced “float” — promoted the idea Thursday with a demonstration featuring a small model floating in a research pool at Offshore Model Basin, an Escondido, Calif., company that does research on ship and oil platform designs.

Spokesman Adam Englund told the San Diego Union-Tribune the demonstration was intended primarily to increase awareness of the possibility of an offshore airport.

Englund, an attorney from Encinitas, told the newspaper his group wants to circulate a petition for a ballot initiative to compete against a November 2006 airport board measure presenting options for the region’s long-term air transportation.