<Professor Richard Carson said the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority's projections are inflated because they rely on faulty economic assumptions, such as that fares will gradually decline and that people will fly more often as their incomes rise. Carson conducted an independent analysis of the need for a new international airport and presented his conclusions to an advisory airport panel March 2. Seth Young, a business professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., who was hired by the authority to review Carson's forecast, said the UCSD professor may be correct in assuming residents won't fly more as they earn more. However, Young said that doesn't matter much because airlines likely will introduce flights to many new markets, which will spur air traffic growth well beyond what will be generated locally by San Diego County residents' travel habits. >
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=euLTJbMUKvH&b=412 359&ct=2071517 Economically Challenged By ROB DAVIS Voice Staff Writer Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Carson contended that the authority's 2001 economic analysis used to demonstrate the need for a new regional airport is flawed. He told the board some of its assumptions looked like a "boosterism effort" and suggested that its authors take his introductory-level economics class. Instead of building a new airport, Carson said, the authority could instead manage future capacity demands at Lindbergh Field by using larger planes and by auctioning landing and takeoff slots to airlines at peak times. But board member Robert Maxwell wasn't buying the idea that airlines would simply buy new fleets to accommodate San Diego's capacity issues. And board member William Lynch questioned Carson's assertion that San Diego could manage growing passenger traffic without building a new airport. --- --- --- --- Young and Carson agree that passenger traffic will continue increasing in San Diego. While Carson thinks it can be managed, Young said it can't. If a new airport isn't built, Young said the city will miss out on a "huge potential" for non-stop service to mid-sized cities such as Omaha and Oklahoma City. The region's potential to grow would be limited by constraints imposed by Lindbergh Field's current capacity, he said.> -------------------- Compare this sober dialogue with the fish market style slanging match we find in Goa's media over Dabolim and Mopa! Am sure we can do better. We must! Cheers.
