Jim Desmond, serves as the Mayor of San Marcos, elected in 2006 and re-elected in 2010 and 2014 without opposition. He serves as Mayor while concurrently working as a pilot for Delta Air Lines since 1986. Jim is married and has two children, both of whom graduated from UC universities in California.
Jim spoke primarily about the San Diego International airport and regional airports. SD International Airport serves 50,000 passengers a day. While primarily serving domestic traffic, San Diego has nonstop international flights to Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
San Diego is the largest metropolitan area in the US, a focus city for Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The top five carriers in San Diego, by seat capacity, were Southwest Airlines (42.7%), American Airlines (14.0%), United Airlines (11.2%), Alaska Airlines (10.1%), and Delta Air Lines (9.9%).
San Diego International is the busiest single runway airport in the US and third-busiest single runway in the world. Due to the airport's short usable-runway, close proximity to the skyscrapers, and steep landing approach, San Diego has been called "the busiest, most difficult single runway in the world.
There are two general aviation airports - Montgomery-Gibbs Executive and Brown Field, located 1.5 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
McClellan–Palomar Airport (Palomar Airport) is owned by the County of San Diego and is used for both general aviation and commercial aviation. In August 2017, the airport announced a new commercial airline Cal Jet, which started operating flights in September 2017.
The future of McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad is up in the air. It already has a new public terminal, and the potential to grow into a facility that could take pressure off San Diego International Airport. At 4,900 feet, Palomar’s runway is too short to host the bigger planes that are looking for a place to land and take off. The current plans will have to go through environmental studies and find funding before the long-awaited 20-year Palomar Airport Master Plan is cleared for take off.
McClellan-Palomar Airport: http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/dpw/airports/palomar.html
There was a good round of questions for Jim Desmond at the end.