Airport spanning California-Mexico welcomes 1st fliers

One of the world's only airports straddling two countries has opened for business.

The first arrivals at the terminal on the U.S.-Mexico border flew Wednesday morning from Mexico City to Tijuana, Mexico. The Aeromexico customers walked over a 390-foot pedestrian bridge from Tijuana's decades-old airport to a new, US$120 million terminal in San Diego.

An investor group that includes Chicago billionaire Sam Zell built the bridge over a heavily fortified stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Cross Border Xpress' target customers are the estimated 60 percent of Tijuana airport passengers who come to the United States. Until now, they had to drive about 15 minutes to a congested land crossing, where they waited up to several hours to enter San Diego by car or on foot.