Carlsbad’s simmering airport fight just escalated. Citizens for a Friendly Airport, a local residents group, filed a second lawsuit Friday in San Diego County Superior Court to stop United Airlines from launching commercial service at McClellan‑Palomar Airport. The complaint, aimed at both San Diego County and United, alleges the county signed off on airline leases without doing the environmental homework required under state law and warns that more scheduled flights will crank up noise and worsen air quality for nearby North County neighborhoods. The plaintiffs want a judge to put United’s lease on ice while the case plays out.
United is slated to start flying out of Palomar on March 30, after the Board of Supervisors approved a ground lease late last year. Tickets are already on sale. According to San Diego County, United plans to use Embraer 175 regional jets with about 70 seats, running two round‑trips a day to Denver and two to San Francisco. Local reporting noted that supervisors approved the lease in December 2025, and county officials have promoted the deal as a revenue generator that will boost North County’s air connections, according to the Times of San Diego.
United would not be the first carrier in. American Airlines’ regional arm, Envoy, started twice‑daily service to Phoenix earlier this year using 76‑seat Embraer E175 jets, a move that triggered C4FA’s earlier lawsuit. The city of Carlsbad then asked to join that case, asserting the county should have amended the airport’s conditional‑use permit before allowing more commercial flying. A judge rejected a request for a preliminary injunction to ground American’s flights, according to reporting by the North County Daily Star…