OCEANSIDE -- Military, business and city officials from Oceanside and Camp Pendleton reacted with a mix of disbelief and wonder Monday to Mayor-elect Jim Wood's suggestion that serious consideration should be given to building a new airport on the military base.

Wood said in an interview with the North County Times editorial board last Thursday that Marine and city officials should study the possibility of locating an international airport on Camp Pendleton to replace Lindbergh Field in San Diego, saying that it would benefit both the base and the city.

Pendleton officials have opposed for years any notion of building an airport on the base, saying a passenger airport would interfere with their training operations.

David Nydegger, the chief executive officer of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, said Monday that he believed Pendleton had been included on the list of possible sites under study by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority only because the government was legally required to consider every site.

But in reality, Nydegger said, the base has been a "no way" site from the beginning.

He said an international airport on the base would force the Marines to scuttle most of their live fire and heavy ordnance drills because of the threat of hitting a passenger airliner. In addition, he said, the airport would take a huge chunk of the base away from the Marines.

"The Chamber of Commerce has for a long time supported no encroachment onto the base of Camp Pendleton," he said. "It would not only seriously inhibit the Marines from doing their duty, (but) it would all but cancel it."

Wood could not be reached Monday to expand on last week's comments. At that time, he told the editorial board that he would welcome a joint study of Camp Pendleton as the site for a new regional airport despite the fierce opposition. Wood will serve as the city's new representative on the regional airport authority, and his comments were in response to questions on the subject.

He said the city would get a boost in retail sales and overnight lodging from a new airport at Pendleton and that the Marines would be able to fly their soldiers and supplies in and out of their own base.

Col. M. L. Hampton, the base's liaison to the chamber and chief of staff to Camp Pendleton's commanding general, said he'd welcome an opportunity to show Wood around the base and to make the military's position on the airport clearer.

"Our position on the airport has been well known for a while," he said, noting that an international airport would ruin the ability of the Marines to use the area as a military base.

The airport authority is studying Pendleton and eight other sites for a new regional airport.

The authority, created by the state Legislature in 2001, is required by law to create a plan with voter approval to either expand Lindbergh Field or find a place to build a new airport.

The authority must ask voters to approve a plan by November 2006.

This summer, the board voted to add locations in Campo and Borrego Springs in East County to the list of alternatives. Other potential scenarios include the construction of an airport in Imperial County or on one of several military bases: Camp Pendleton, two sites at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station south of Poway along Interstate 15, North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego and March Air Reserve Base near Riverside.

Oceanside City Councilman Jack Feller said Monday he agreed with the naysayers.

"It's absolutely inconceivable that (the airport) would be at Camp Pendleton," he said.

Contact staff writer Rob O'Dell at (760) 901-4067 or rodell@nctimes.com.