page_title: History of the Cross Border Xpress
section_title: 1992: Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) no cross-border proposal
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Cross Border Xpress / 1992: Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares (ASA) no cross-border proposal
caption_attribution_description: English: ASA's Tijuana airport development plan without cross-border terminal 1992
context_page_description: The 2015 opening of the Cross Border Xpress terminal and bridge to the Tijuana Airport also referred to as the Tijuana Cross-border Terminal and the Puerta de las Californias, was preceded by a quarter century of negotiations that were impacted by political, economic and security issues.
  Following Mexico's Debt Crisis and foreign loan renegotiations in the 1980s, in 1989, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari began to implement a massive privatization program to facilitate both the general and regional development of Mexico. Key to that program was the modernization of all transportation networks. Lacking funds and acknowledging the symbiotic relationship between commerce and transportation, "co-investments" were initiated to attract both domestic and foreign capital.
context_section_description: As negotiations between San Diego and Mexico continued but failed to reach a compromise, in March, 1992, ASA released an updated master plan (image 8) with projected completion dates for the Matrix aircraft maintenance center and the expansion of the Tijuana airport that included two 10,500 foot runways with a separation of 700 feet (210 meters) by November 1992, and an international terminal by 1995 but without a cross-border terminal. The maintenance center, runways and new international terminal were to service Cathay Pacific and attract other Asian airlines such as Japan Airlines (JAL) and Korean Air (KAL). In a press conference on March 25, 1992, the Tijuana airport officially announced the "$300 to $400" million dollar expansion, that the second runway was more than 30 percent complete and that the first Tijuana-Honolulu-Tokyo flight would start by May, 1992.
  Driven by the continued belief that Cathay Pacific would relocate part of its aircraft fleet and establish a maintenance base at the Tijuana airport, and that other Asian airlines would follow, on April 14, 1992, the director of ASA, Jose Andres de Oteyza stated at a news conference at the Tijuana airport that neither the Mexican government nor ASA had any interest in the development of a "binational airport" with San Diego. He outlined ASA's counter-proposal and indicated that ASA would continue with its development plans that included the expansion of the terminal, extending the existing runway to "10,600" feet, building a second "12,000" foot runway and potentially adding a "grand international terminal". He stated that the planned expansion would allow the Tijuana airport to service large aircraft, such as the Boeing 747s, and handle 20 million annual passengers. He went further to state that the ongoing discussions between Mexico and San Diego were inconsequential as they did not involve the U.S. government.
  On April 21, 1992, Jose Andres de Oteyza met with Peter Soderquist representing the City of San Diego Airport Division in Mexico City and on April 22, sent a letter to San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor  stating that ASA was under the impression that the Mexico-San Diego study group was only considering the TwinPorts proposal and was not aware that the study process was comparing both the ASA and TwinPorts proposals, and could consider a "third" proposal. Jose Andres de Oteyza wrote that while the TwinPorts study process was not concluded and demand at the Tijuana airport continued to rise, ASA had to continue with its development program, and that the press had created "innumerable confusion" by failing to understand ASA's position.
  The ASA proposal did not address issues on the shared U.S. airspace and the ILS coordination on the 09 approach between the U.S. Navy's helicopter training base at Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach, San Diego's Brown Field Municipal Airport in Otay Mesa, and the Tijuana airport which operationally created a single runway westerly approach between the three airports, nor changes in aircraft design and size requiring high capacity passenger terminals, wider taxiways, and larger runway separations above the 700 foot (210 meters) to safely support simultaneous operations of dissimilar sized aircraft (wake turbulence/wake vortex separation). While a FAA-funded study on TwinPorts found the joint airport concept viable, opposition to TwinPorts continued to grow both in Mexico  and San Diego. None of the ASA plans announced on March 25, 1992 materialized while during this time, Britain and the People’s Republic of China came to an agreement over the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. As China agreed to recognize private investment rights acquired during Hong Kong's British rule, Cathay Pacific agreed to establish its hub and maintenance base at Chek Lap Kok, undermining the Matrix aircraft maintenance center and ASA’s development plans for converting the Tijuana airport into a major regional and airline hub airport. The Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok was designed with two 12,500 foot run
caption: Image 8: ASA, Tijuana airport development plan without cross-border terminal, 1992
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