CARLSBAD: Airport's new terminal building opens for business

Construction work to continue for two more months

By BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer | Tuesday, November 18, 2008 6:08 PM PST ∞

CARLSBAD ---- People hopping out at the curb at McClellan-Palomar Airport did a double-take Tuesday morning, and some looked completely confused.

They'd been told it was a historic moment ---- the very first day that the airport's new terminal opened for business. Yet things looked unfinished. Contractors were still pouring concrete in the future baggage claim area, painters were climbing ladders to work on an exterior breezeway, and the restaurant building had a dirt floor and no cooking equipment.

Don't worry, airport employees kept repeating, it's OK to go in.

Tuesday was the 18,000-square-foot terminal's "soft opening." The $25 million construction project is set to wrap up in early 2009, said Assistant Airport Manager Olivier "OB" Brackett, and the traditional ribbon-cutting celebration is scheduled for late January.

The new terminal had to start processing passengers now because the next phase of construction involves tearing down the old terminal, Brackett added. That's where the planes will park when they're loading passengers.

Despite some typical new building troubles, including malfunctioning door locks and computer equipment, Brackett and many other employees at the county-owned airport sported broad grins on their faces Tuesday morning.

"Oh my goodness, it does look so nice," declared shuttle driver Wald Abbas as he proudly dropped off a passenger at the new loading and unloading area in front of the terminal.

His regular shuttle van was in the shop for servicing, so he was ferrying passengers in an airport security vehicle, but he said conditions at the airport were improving every day. Soon, they'll be calling this place "LAX-Carlsbad," he joked.

While airport employees were upbeat, passengers had mixed views about the modern terminal building with its seashore-themed decorations. Some said they loved having all the modern conveniences, such as bathrooms in the boarding area, others said they missed the small-town feel of the airport's old facilities.

Regular airport user Rick Cuda of San Marcos was thrilled.

"It's a whole lot better than it was before ---- it was basically a trailer before," he said as he sat in one of the new wooden rocking chairs near the United Express ticket counter with his wife and 3-year-old daughter.

But his wife, Nicole, looked a little sad. She's a flight attendant, and she liked Carlsbad because it didn't look like all the other airports that she flies into, she said.

"I felt it was kind of cute," she said.

Her husband looked at her in disbelief.

"If you're going to go to an airport, it should look like an airport," he said.

Incoming passenger Kevin Carey, a local sound engineer who has logged 30,000 flight miles this fall, said he hoped the modern terminal would encourage more airlines to fly to Carlsbad.

Right now, there's only daily commercial plane service to one place ---- Los Angeles, he noted. He's not the only one wishing the new terminal would led to an increase in service; airport officials also have said they hope that happens.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.