San Diego Airport Guide: One Runway, Twenty Five Million
San Diego Airport runs 25 million passengers a year on a single runway beside downtown. Read about the Bankers Hill approach, the new Terminal 1 and the curfew.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
San Diego International Airport sits on the shore of San Diego Bay, barely 3 miles (5 km) from the skyscrapers of downtown. It is among the busiest single runway airports anywhere in the world, handling just over 25 million passengers in 2025. San Diego Airport is famous for its approach, which brings airliners low over the rooftops of Bankers Hill and past a multi storey car park before a firm landing on runway 27. A new Terminal 1 opened in September 2025 and is transforming the passenger experience.
San Diego Airport at a Glance
The codes are SAN and KSAN. The airport lies northwest of downtown at an elevation of 5 m (17 ft), wedged between the bay, Interstate 5 and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. A single asphalt runway serves two terminals. Terminal 2 has east and west concourses and an international arrivals facility. The new Terminal 1 opened its first phase with 19 gates in 2025.
In 2025 San Diego Airport handled around 25.3 million passengers, a fraction up on the year before. Southwest holds about a third of the market, followed by Alaska Airlines, which treats the field as a hub, then United, Delta and American. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority owns and operates it. Flight status and parking rates are on the airport’s official website.
How San Diego’s Airport Came to Be
Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic in 1927 in the Spirit of St Louis, an aircraft built by Ryan near the site of the present airport. The city rode the wave of enthusiasm, passed a bond issue in 1928 and built an airport on tidal flats beside the bay. It opened on 16 August 1928 as San Diego Municipal Airport, Lindbergh Field, with the aviator’s permission to use his name.
The Navy and the aircraft industry shaped the early decades. Consolidated Aircraft built flying boats and bombers on the site through the Second World War, and the military presence remains in the recruit depot next door. The first jet age terminal, now Terminal 1, opened in 1967, and Terminal 2 followed in 1979 with a westward extension in 1998.
In 1978 PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727 on approach, collided with a Cessna 172 over North Park. Everyone on both aircraft died, along with seven people on the ground, in what was then the worst air disaster in American history. A night curfew on departures followed in 1979. The Authority dropped the Lindbergh Field name in 2003, judging San Diego International Airport a better fit for a major commercial field.
Runways at San Diego Airport
San Diego Airport has one runway, 09/27, which is 2,865 m (9,401 ft) long and 61 m wide, with an asphalt surface. Both ends have displaced thresholds, which trims the usable landing distance. The runway runs east to west along the shore of the bay, and almost all traffic lands on 27, arriving from the east over the city.
The approach to runway 27 is the attraction. Aircraft descend steeply over Balboa Park and Bankers Hill, clearing a parking garage by what looks like a few feet from the ground, before touching down early on a runway with little margin. There is no instrument landing system on 27, so when low cloud rolls in from the Pacific or Santa Ana winds blow from the east, operations flip to runway 09. That brings approaches in over the bay and departures out over the city, and it causes delays because the single parallel taxiway struggles to cope.
Take offs are limited to between 06.30 and 23.30 under the 1979 curfew, with exceptions for emergency and medical flights. Arrivals are permitted around the clock. The single runway handles more than 200,000 movements a year, a figure many two runway airports would envy.
Terminals and Airlines
Terminal 1 is the big story. The first phase of its replacement opened in September 2025 at a cost of around USD 2.6 billion, with 19 gates, a new taxiway and a new roadway. Southwest, the dominant tenant of the old building, moved across along with other carriers. Two more gates opened in 2026, and a second phase will demolish the original 1967 terminal and take the total to 30 gates by 2028.
Terminal 2 handles most of the other airlines, including the international carriers. The east concourse has 12 gates and the west concourse 19, with the international arrivals facility at the western end. British Airways flies the Boeing 777 to London Heathrow, Lufthansa serves Munich, KLM flies to Amsterdam, Japan Airlines flies the 787 to Tokyo and Air Canada, WestJet and Copa cover Canada and Panama. Lounges include the Delta Sky Club, United Club, Admirals Club and an Alaska Lounge.
Routes and Destinations
San Diego Airport serves around 87 nonstop destinations, including 11 international points in seven countries. San Francisco and Denver are the busiest domestic routes, followed by Phoenix, Las Vegas and Seattle, with Dallas Fort Worth, Chicago and Sacramento also busy. Alaska Airlines has built a substantial point to point operation here, linking San Diego to the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, the Mountain West and the East Coast.
London Heathrow is the busiest international route with roughly 231,000 passengers in the year to June 2026. San Jose del Cabo, Munich, Vancouver and Tokyo Narita follow. The Lufthansa flight to Munich, at around 6,000 miles (9,700 km), is the longest route from the field. Traffic is steady year round thanks to the climate, with a summer peak driven by tourism and conventions. Cargo is light, with most freight moving through Los Angeles.
Getting to and from San Diego Airport
The cheapest sensible option is the MTS Route 992 bus, which runs between downtown, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 every 15 minutes for a standard fare of a few dollars. The free SAN Flyer shuttle links the terminals to the Old Town Transit Center every 20 to 25 minutes, where passengers can join the Trolley, the Coaster commuter rail and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains to Los Angeles.
A Trolley extension to the terminals has been proposed, and a 2021 study found it feasible within a decade, but construction has not started. A shuttle also connects the consolidated rental car facility to the Middletown Trolley station. Drivers use Interstate 5, exiting at Hawthorn Street northbound or Sassafras Street southbound. Downtown is ten minutes away. A taxi to the Gaslamp Quarter costs around USD 20 (about £15). Each terminal has a parking garage, with about 5,200 spaces in total.
Spotting and Photography
San Diego Airport is one of the best spotting airports in North America. The classic spot is the Laurel Street area in Bankers Hill, where aircraft pass directly overhead on final to runway 27 at a few hundred feet, with Balboa Park and the city skyline behind them. The car park at the top of Laurel Street is the famous close pass. Harbor Island, across the water from the runway, gives a broadside view of landings and departures with the terminal behind.
The afternoon sun lights the nose and southern side of aircraft on approach, so late afternoon from Bankers Hill is ideal. Mornings suit Harbor Island for departing aircraft. During Santa Ana conditions the pattern reverses and arrivals come in over the bay, which is rare and worth catching. Stay on public pavements, do not stand in the road at Laurel Street and respect the residents, who put up with a lot of noise and a lot of spotters.
What Comes Next
The Terminal 1 project is the main event through 2028. Once complete it will give the airport 30 new gates, a consolidated roadway and the first proper transit connection, if the Trolley extension finally wins funding. The San Diego Association of Governments is studying an airport transit link as part of its regional plan.
The runway is the limit. There is no room for a second one, every proposal to move the airport has failed and the curfew is not going anywhere. The verdict is that San Diego Airport will stay a single runway field, squeezing more passengers through bigger aircraft and better terminals. See how it compares with other constrained city airports on the Airports of the World map.
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