San Diego International Airport is the primary international airport serving San Diego and its surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. The airport is located northwest of downtown San Diego. It is the busiest single-runway airport in the United States and has a relatively small footprint, covering of land. The airport is a hub for Alaska Airlines.
The airport is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Federal Aviation Administration. Effective January 22, 2026. It operates in controlled airspace served by Southern California TRACON. The airport's landing approach is close to the skyscrapers of downtown San Diego, and can sometimes prove difficult to pilots due to the relatively short usable landing area, steep descent angle over the crest of Bankers Hill, and shifting wind currents just before landing.
History Origins
Prior to the development of the airport, the area formed part of the delta of the San Diego River that discharged into San Diego Bay. The river was later rerouted to discharge into the Pacific Ocean west of Mission Bay.
The airport is near the site of the Ryan Aeronautical Company factory, where the Spirit of St. Louis was built for Charles Lindbergh's historic 1927 transatlantic flight. The aircraft was flight-tested at Dutch Flats Airport, Ryan's airfield located near the intersection of Midway and Barnett avenues on the opposite side of Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.California Dreaming Airliner World November 2017 pages 53-60
Inspired by Lindbergh's flight and proud to have produced his aircraft, the city of San Diego approved a bond issue in 1928 to construct an airport. Lindbergh encouraged the project and agreed to lend his name to it. The airport was dedicated on August 16, 1928, as San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field, with 140 Navy and 82 Army aircraft participating in a flyover.
The airport was the first federally certified airfield to serve all aircraft types, including seaplanes. The original terminal stood on the northeast side of the field along Pacific Highway.
The airport also served as a testing site for several early U.S. sailplane designs, including those by William Hawley Bowlus, superintendent of construction on the Spirit of St. Louis. Bowlus operated the Bowlus Glider School at Lindbergh Field from 1929 to 1930.
In 1930, Ruth Alexander set national and world altitude records for women at the airport.
The airport was the departure point for the first transcontinental glider tow, flown by Capt. Frank Hawks. The flight departed Lindbergh Field on March 30, 1930, and arrived at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City on April 6, 1930. Regular San Diego–Los Angeles airmail service began on June 1, 1930. The airport gained international airport status in 1934.
In April 1937, a United States Coast Guard air base was commissioned next to the airfield. The Coast Guard operated fixed-wing aircraft from Lindbergh Field until the mid-1990s, when those aircraft were reassigned elsewhere.
Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair) had its headquarters adjacent to Lindbergh Field and manufactured military aircraft there during World War II. Today the airport's rental car facility occupies part of the former factory, and the nearby street is named Liberator Way, after the company's B-24 Liberator aircraft. Convair used the airport for test and delivery flights from 1935 to 1995.
The United States Army Air Corps took control of the field in 1942 and expanded it to accommodate heavy bombers manufactured in the region. Two cantonment areas, Camp Consair and Camp Sahara, were established at the airport during World War II. Improvements included construction of an runway capable of accommodating large aircraft before jet airliners entered airline service. A May 1952 chart shows an 8,700-foot runway 9 and a 4,500-foot runway 13.
Jet age Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) established its headquarters in San Diego and started service at Lindbergh Field in 1949. The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 42 departures per day: 14 American, 13 United, 6 Western, 6 Bonanza, and 3 PSA (5 PSA on Friday and Sunday). American had a nonstop flight to Dallas and one to El Paso; aside from that, nonstop flights did not reach beyond California and Arizona. The first scheduled flights using jets at Lindbergh Field were in September 1960: American Airlines Boeing 720s to Phoenix and United Airlines 720s to San Francisco. Nonstop flights to Chicago started in 1962 and to New York in 1967.
The airport was built and operated by the City of San Diego through the sale of municipal bonds to be repaid by airport users. In 1962 it was transferred to the San Diego Unified Port District by a state law. The original terminal was on the north side of the airport; the former Terminal 1 opened on the south side of the airport on March 5, 1967. Originally Terminal 1 was only 1 story tall and had no jet bridges, however between 1981 and 1983 Terminal 1 East was given a second floor and jet bridges, and the same was done with Terminal 1 West between 1989 and 1991. Terminal 2 also originally opened on July 11, 1979. These terminals were designed by Paderewski Dean & Associates.
Western Airlines discontinued service to Mexico City in 1981, leaving the airport without any international flights. However, in June 1988, the airport's first transatlantic flight was opened, a British Airways flight to London's Gatwick Airport using Boeing 747s and McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. As San Diego airport's customs facility had not been used in seven years and was not up to the US Customs Service's latest security requirements, inbound travelers had to clear customs in Los Angeles, which made the journey cumbersome. After the Port District performed the necessary upgrades, San Diego Airport's customs facility reopened in 1989 - nevertheless, British Airways ended the route in November 1990.
Between 1991 and 1993, the airport's second runway (Runway 13/31) was closed and retrofitted into taxiways D and F. This runway had been much smaller than the main runway (Runway 9/27) and was unable to be used by commercial jets.
The Commuter Terminal opened on July 23, 1996, a small standalone facility used by all short-haul flights, mostly to Los Angeles, regardless of airline. Service out of the terminal stopped in 2015 after the expansion of Terminal 2 and amid the introduction of larger regional jets. However, the building remained standing until January 2024 as it also housed offices for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
Terminal 2 itself was expanded westward by on January 7, 1998. The expanded Terminal 2 and the Commuter Terminal were designed by Gensler and SGPA Architecture and Planning.
In 2001, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA) was created by California State Assembly Bill 93. The SDCRAA assumed jurisdiction over the airport in December 2002. The Authority changed the airport's name from Lindbergh Field to San Diego International Airport in 2003, reportedly considering the new name "a better fit for a major commercial airport."
The airport's first nonstop flight to Asia began in 2012 with a Tokyo flight.
Relocation proposals
As far back as 1950, there have been proposals to relocate San Diego International Airport. In 1950, the city of San Diego acquired what is today Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport and much of the land surrounding it through eminent domain to build a replacement airport, but the Korean War brought with it a massive expansion in jet traffic to nearby Naval Air Station Miramar, which soon rendered a commercial service airport in the area impractical. The CAA refused to fund any major enhancements to SDIA through the 1950s, and at various times the city proposed NAS North Island, Mission Bay, and Brown Field as replacements. Cost, conflicts with the Navy, and potential interference with other air traffic stymied these plans.
While in 1964 the FAA finally agreed to an expansion of SDIA, which led to the construction of today's Terminal 1, it was only allowed with the assurance of San Diego Mayor Charles Dail that it would be a temporary measure until a replacement airport could be found. From that time until 2006, various public agencies conducted studies on potential locations for a replacement airport. One revisited a study done in the 1980s by the City in 1994 when Naval Air Station Miramar closed and was then immediately transferred to the US Marine Corps as Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Another was by the City of San Diego in 1984 and another that started in 1996 and sat dormant with SANDAG until the airport authority was formed.
In 2001, the SDCRAA projected SAN would be constrained by congestion between 2015 and 2022; the Great Recession, however, extended the forecast capacity limitations into the 2030s. In June 2006, SDCRAA board members selected Marine Corps Air Station Miramar as its preferred site for a replacement airport, despite military objections the compromises this would require would severely interfere with the readiness and training of aviators stationed at the air station.SDCRAA Endorses Miramar For New Airport Site, Despite Military Protest (San Diego Tribune: June 5, 2006) On November 7, 2006, San Diego County residents rejected an advisory relocation ballot that included a joint use proposal measure over these and related concerns over the potential impact reducing the region's military value would have on the defense-focused San Diego economy. With the relocation proposals now defeated, San Diego Airport began looking to improve its existing facilities.
Modern expansion
The first major 21st-century expansion of the airport was "The Green Build," adding 10 gates to Terminal 2 West, as well as a new security checkpoint, a scenic dining area dubbed "Sunset Cove," a new USO Center, and a dual-level arrivals and departures roadway for the entirety of Terminal 2. Completed on August 13, 2013, at a cost of US$900 million, it was followed in January 2016 by the opening of a consolidated rental car facility on the airport's north side. The US$316 million, facility houses 14 rental car companies and is served by shuttle buses to and from the terminals. In July 2016, construction began on a three-story 5,200-space parking structure in front of Terminal 2, which was completed in May 2018.
Given annual arrivals at Terminal 2 East's three international gates (20–22) had increased from 50,000 passengers in 1990 to more than 400,000 in 2017, a new international arrivals facility for the airport was built at Terminal 2 West. Construction began in 2017 and completed in June 2018, adding vertical circulation and an upper level connecting six of the Green Build gates (46–51) to a international arrivals processing facility at the southwest corner of the terminal.
After many years of planning, construction on a complete replacement of Terminal 1 began in 2021. Divided into two phases, Phase 1 of the project includes a 19-gate standalone terminal east of the original facility, a five-story 5,200-space parking structure, a dual-level arrivals and departures roadway similar to Terminal 2's, a new entry road parallel to Harbor Drive, and an expanded taxiway A to pair with existing taxiway B. Phase 1 opened on September 22, 2025, at a cost of US$2.6 billion. Phase 2, to begin after Phase 1's opening and planned for completion in 2028, will demolish the original Terminal 1 and add 11 additional gates to the new Terminal 1 in its place. An area west of the new Terminal 1's parking structure was left vacant to accommodate a station for the proposed "Airport Transit Connection," a project under study by SANDAG to connect the airport to Downtown San Diego via a transit line of a yet to be decided mode.