Japan and Hong Kong have airports built on man-made islands, so why not San Diego?

That’s apparently the solution a private business group had in mind when it sought a patent for the design of a multilevel airport with three runways that could be built in shallow water and accessed via an underwater tunnel.

Now that patent has been awarded, the San Diego Union-Tribune and area residents got a look at the details for the “mystery airport”  that might replace the bursting-at-the-seams San Diego International Airport.

(Courtesy San Diego Union Tribune)

According to the paper, reactions to the airport-in-the-bay range “from cautiously positive to incredulous.”  One member of the committee studying the airport’s future called the plan “crackpot stuff,” while others point out that the proposed airport site is smack dab in the middle of an environmentally sensitive region.

See what you think. As my mom used to say (usually when the topic was aliens…) “It could happen.”

Thanks for visiting Stuck at the Airport. Subscribe to get daily travel tidbits. And follow me on Twitter at @hbaskas and Instagram.