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Nestled in the coastal city of Carlsbad sits an airport with close to 500 flights each day.
Residents knew about McClellan-Palomar Airport when they bought their homes — they even signed a document acknowledging it. But while the airport has been in service since 1959, the flights and their size have increased in recent years.
That will climb higher after Wednesday, when the San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved a three-year lease for United Airlines. The decision adds an additional four flights serviced by planes that can seat upwards of 70 passengers each day.
Just like when the Board of Supervisors approved American Airlines’ flights in January, the county and the Federal Aviation Administration said San Diego has no authority over flights, even at an airport that it manages.
Should the FAA deem the flights safe, the county risks being considered discriminatory if it rejects United’s plea. The United flights are already being sold online.
Another thing the county does not have control over is where and when an aircraft can fly. Palomar Airport only has a voluntary curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. for jets and 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. for propeller aircraft due to a law passed in 1990 stripping airports that did not already have a legally binding curfew of their power to enact them.
The same goes for the airport’s authority to manage aircrafts’ flight paths, which residents say are far different than the established routes.
That leaves Carlsbad residents — an estimated 30,000 of whom are affected by the airport, according to the advocacy group Palomar Airport Action Network — with little recourse over local infrastructure that they say bombards them with noise and environmental effects throughout the day and night as the planes get bigger and more frequent.
They also worry that as air traffic increases, there will be safety concerns that will drive even more growth. And with a 20-year expansion plan approved for the airport, residents see their problems only getting worse.
“I bought my house knowing what the airport was,” said Shirley Anderson, a Carlsbad resident who sits on the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee. “I didn’t look into the crystal ball to see what the airport could become.”
Residents worry that what they are currently experiencing is only the beginning.
The Board of Supervisors adopted a 20-year master plan for the airport in 2021. It includes the potential to change the airport’s classification from a B-II, which is designated for smaller aircraft, to a D-III airport, designed for larger aircraft with higher speeds. The plan said that the county cannot make that change without first getting a modification to its conditional use permit with the city of Carlsbad.
At the time the master plan was approved, close to half of the business jets at the airport exceeded the design standards.
The airport’s single runway is 4,897 feet long and 150 feet wide. The master plan includes extending the runway 200 feet to the east.
Carlsbad has opposed changing the airport’s classification or extending its runway. The city also maintains that the county’s approval of leases for American and United airlines requires its final sign-off.
“As the airport’s host city, the City of Carlsbad has consistently asserted its role and jurisdiction in making final land use decisions, including for new or expanded airport land uses,” Carlsbad Mayor Keith Blackburn wrote in a November letter for an airport meeting.
The county said that neither the current American nor United flights require any changes to the airport. It also said that the proposed changes to the runway would not automatically mean airport facilities could handle large airplanes like 737’s.
Residents do not trust that.
“What they’re going to do then is they’re going to come back and say, ‘you know what, you’re right. This is a problem, and therefore we need to extend the airport even further. We need a longer runway, we need a bigger airport, because that’s what will make this safe,” Betro said.
They also want a meeting with the FAA to discuss their concerns. They finally secured that in October, but it was postponed due to the government shutdown.
For now, neighbors are left with little else to push back on the expansion plans besides the Palomar Advisory Committee, made up of nine people appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Those meetings are known for being contentious, but members lack the power to make any concrete changes; they serve in an advisory role.
Thus, neighbors remain frustrated with a lack of power over an airport that affects their daily lives. Carlsbad has a conditional use lease of the airport, but it is the county that manages it and supports its infrastructure, and the FAA that makes decisions on flight activity.
Whether or not the people of Carlsbad are able to gain more control over the airport will play out in the courts, where the next hearing will take place Dec. 19.
inewsource is a community-focused nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and accountability journalism. The news outlet is a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
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