Citizens for a Friendly Airport sue San Diego County over American Airlines’ new Palomar flights, alleging environmental law violations.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — San Diego County’s decision to allow American Airlines to operate flights out of McLellan-Palomar Airport has officially landed it in court. 

On January 24, 2025, the local group Citizens for a Friendly Airport (C4FA) filed a lawsuit against San Diego County for violating state environmental laws by granting the major airline to operate four flights in and out of the North County airport.

According to the lawsuit, the county failed to adequately assess the environmental impacts of its decisions by allowing the flights.

Reads the lawsuit, “[The County’s] conduct in approving the project without complying with CEQA and other applicable laws constitutes a prejudicial abuse of discretion because, as alleged in this pleading, it failed to proceed in the manner required by law and made findings not supported by substantial evidence.” 

It is the second time Citizens for a Friendly Airport has sued the city for noise and other issues at Palmoar. 

In 2018, the group sued the county for adopting the airport’s master plan update.

While the county prevailed on most of the claims in the 2018 complaint, including challenges to noise, traffic, greenhouse gas, and energy analyses, the court did identify deficiencies in the noise analysis and the need for an amendment to the 1980 conditional use permit.

The 2018 lawsuit also challenged the proposal to extend the airport’s runway by up to 800 feet, which C4FA argued would constitute an expansion requiring voter approval.

The County’s decision to allow commercial flights out of Palomar was met with resistance and support from residents.

In September 2024, CBS 8 interviewed residents for and against the proposal.

“I’m for it,” North County resident Leslie Desrosiers told CBS 8 in September 2024. 

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “I think it’s convenient, and it’d be nice to have it right here. I’ve already looked at the flights going out there.”

Meanwhile, other residents are not on board and are blasting the Palomar Airport Advisory Committee’s recent five-to-four vote to approve the proposal.

“This is a real issue for us in Carlsbad,” said James Revelll. He says over the years, the noise from aircraft flying in and out of Palomar has grown increasingly worse, and he fears that these new commercial flights will exacerbate that.

“So we’ll have traffic early in the morning before the quiet hours lapses at 7 am,” he told CBS 8. “They’re proposing a 6:15 takeoff, so ‘Good Morning Carlsbad! Right? We’re going to be woken up by that.” 

Attorney Cory Briggs represents the residents in their lawsuit against the county.

In a statement, Briggs told CBS 8, “The County is trying to ignore the promise that it made to the City of Carlsbad and its residents decades ago when it annexed city land: We will get your permission before expanding our footprint or the scale of our operations. That promise was upheld in court just a few years back, and we expect it to be upheld again.”

A county spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. This article will be updated if and when they respond.

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