SAN: Five Things WE Love about San Diego International Airport
Our “5 Things We Love About…” series celebrates features and amenities at airports around the country and the world.
Today we land at San Diego International Airport (SAN), North America’s second-ever carbon neutral airport.
We know that due to health concerns, some amenities we love may not currently be available. We’re confident they’ll be back.
5 Things We Love About San Diego International Airport (SAN)
1. The art at San Diego International Airport
San Diego International Airport has a robust art program with great permanent public art pieces and temporary exhibitions.
Above are some snaps of The Journey by Jim Campbell. The light ribbon is both the Airport Authority’s largest commission and largest scale artwork and is made up of 38,000 suspended LED pendants spanning six feet wide by 700 feet long. Located in Terminal 2, the artwork has images of people swimming, dancing and walking, and birds in flight, fluttering throughout the sculpture.
2. SAN is home to the California Least Tern
The San Diego International Airport is home to the California Least Tern (Sterna antillarum browni, “CLT”), a federally listed endangered seabird species. The airport provides the tern with a nesting habitat and easy access to foraging opportunities in nearby San Diego Bay.
3. SAN has its own beer
San Diego International Airport (SAN) partnered with local brewery Ballast Point and industrial water purification company, Water Works, Inc., to brew a beer – called SAN Test Pilot.
The water for SAN Test Pilot comes from condensate that drips from the bottom of air conditioning units attached to jet bridges. The Airport’s Environmental Affairs team began collecting the dripping condensate in 2014 and currently captures about 100,000 gallons per year from 18 of the most heavily used jet bridges at terminals 1 and 2.
In addition to making beer, the water is used to wash sidewalks, equipment, vehicles and building exteriors and in the cooling towers that control the temperature in the terminals.
4. SAN’s artist in residence program
In addition to a performing arts program, San Diego International Airport has a performing arts residency program that gives area groups space to develop new work and the opportunity to perform.
The program kicked off in 2016 with the Fern Street Circus and since then has hosted a wide variety of performance groups, including an aerial dance theater.
5. SAN’s Innovation Lab
SAN’s Airport Innovation Lab is a 16-week accelerator program that helps entrepreneurs, start-ups, and other businesses get a healthy foothold in the airport industry.
The program provides testing for the ideas and a one-year technology-intensive collaborative program.
Past Innovation Lab start-ups you may recognize include Fuel Rod and At Your Gate.
Did we miss your favorite amenity at San Diego International Airport (SAN)? If so, drop a note in the comments section below.
And please take a look at the other airports featured in the ‘5 Things We Love About..” series. Let us know which airports you’d like to see added.
