CARLSBAD — A San Diego Superior Court judge on Friday will consider a request to temporarily halt American Airlines’ daily commercial flights out of McClellan-Palomar Airport as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by a local advocacy group.
Citizens for a Friendly Airport, or C4FA, is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the twice-daily flights between Phoenix and Carlsbad “until the trial is over,” according to a March 30 statement from the group.
The group argues the County of San Diego violated a 2021 court order by approving American Airlines’ lease without proper consultation with the City of Carlsbad.
“The County ignored the Court’s 2021 ruling ordering the County to do so,” C4FA wrote.
Cory Briggs, the attorney representing C4FA, could not be reached for comment.
According to court documents filed by the county and American Airlines, both parties oppose the request for an injunction. In filings submitted ahead of the April 5 hearing, the county argued that the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits and have not demonstrated irreparable harm.
“There is no likelihood that Plaintiff will succeed in this case,” the county wrote, adding that the group “still has not stated a cause of action” in either its complaint or preliminary injunction motion.
The county further argued that the commercial service lease granted to American Airlines is consistent with McClellan-Palomar Airport’s existing land use permit — conditional use permit 172 (CUP-172) — which the county says explicitly allows commercial airline operations, both scheduled and unscheduled.
Officials noted that McClellan-Palomar Airport has a long history of commercial service and that current American Airlines operations fall within the scope of permitted uses under the airport’s existing designation.
American Airlines echoed the county’s position, describing the lawsuit as “an unlawful attempt to directly regulate aircraft operations and service,” which are governed by federal law and overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Local governments and citizen groups cannot use local zoning and permitting regulations to functionally veto the types of aircraft that fly, the services they offer, or the noise they make, especially once FAA has undertaken its requisite evaluation and given its approval,” attorneys for American stated in a filing.
The airline also argued that the plaintiffs delayed their request for emergency relief, filing nearly two months after the county Board of Supervisors approved the lease and after flights had already begun on Feb. 13.
“If relief were granted, the harm to American and other individuals — in the form of lost revenue, harm to reputation and customer goodwill, and lost jobs — would be real and irreparable,” the filing stated.
C4FA, however, remains critical of the county’s position, stating the legal arguments rely on “half-truths” and “lies of omission,” and accusing American Airlines of overstating financial harm.
“American Airlines, with a market cap of over $7B, is crying financial hardship over the loss of 4 flights per day (2 outbound/2 inbound) on a route that they stated under oath is not flying full,” the group wrote.
The airport is also facing a projected $3.8 million budget shortfall for the 2024-25 fiscal year, according to a March 21 presentation by county officials to the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee. The airport anticipates $4.5 million in revenue and $8.3 million in expenses, with the Airport Enterprise Fund covering the gap. Officials did not specify the exact sources of those additional funds.
C4FA further challenged the county’s compliance with the conditional use permit, arguing that allowing larger aircraft like the Embraer 175 represents an unapproved expansion. The county disputes this, stating that the FAA has approved the aircraft to operate safely at the airport using existing infrastructure and does not require any new facilities or changes to the airport’s designation.
The lawsuit does not cite violations under the California Environmental Quality Act, focusing instead on local zoning issues. The county and American Airlines argue that the case is preempted by federal law, citing FAA authority over airport operations and the Airline Deregulation Act.
C4FA said the lawsuit is still in its early stages and that it plans to continue pursuing the case regardless of the judge’s ruling on the injunction. The hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday in Department 71 of the San Diego Superior Court’s Central Courthouse. Once available, C4FA said it would post a Zoom link to the hearing on its website.
The county of San Diego and Palomar Airport officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Coast News.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated from its original version.
