Mexicana de Aviación
In 1989, Ralph Nieders, who had been involved in the Freddie Laker discussions, made a formal proposal to Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico City. The proposal was accepted and a letter of intent drawn in 1990 for the acquisition of Martinez Ranch (parcel number APN 667-050-07) as the designated site for the cross-border terminal. The Mexicana de Aviación/Nieders image 1 shown in this section became the first of a series of plans/diagrams that were created to better promote the project. Contact was then made with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) whose plans for a "bi-national airport" had been undermined in November 1989, when the San Diego City Council lifted a building moratorium on Otay Mesa. SANDAG did not support the development of a cross-border terminal as it sought to again revive its efforts to create a bi-national airport on San Diego's Otay Mesa and Mexicana de Aviación opted not to pursue the project in January, 1991. As Mexicana de Aviación withdrew, in February 1991, Rodolfo Ramos Ortiz/Aerocharter de México looking at the Tijuana airport's potential for passenger and cargo operations to Japan and other Pacific destinations joined Ralph Nieders to continue promoting the cross-borer terminal. As shown by image 2, an updated rendering was then created showing a fully developed Tijuana airport and how its cargo and passengers would directly connect to San Diego's surface streets and freeway system.