April Another Strong Month for Ontario International Airport

Passenger volume grew by double-digits at Ontario International Airport (ONT) again in April, the third month this year that traffic increased more than 10 percent.

Overall, ONT welcomed 416,320 airline passengers last month, 12.7 percent more than April 2017.  Most notably, the number of international passengers rose to 19,402, a 54.6 percent increase driven by the first full month of service provided by China Airlines, which launched its daily Ontario-Taiwan route in late March.

Domestic passenger volume grew by 11.2 percent to 396,918.

“That our customer volume increased by double-digits in April continues the momentum built in the first quarter when we saw 10% growth,” said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA). “We are adding new air service on a regular basis and month after month we are showing that Ontario delivers the convenient, hassle-free airport experience which business and leisure travelers expect.” 

The latest statistics underscore the impressive growth ONT has achieved since its return to local control in November 2016. From January through April, more than 1.5 million passengers traveled through the airport, up 10.7 percent from the first four months of 2017.

In addition to the arrival of China Airlines, Frontier Airlines began service into and out of ONT last fall. More recently, JetBlue announced it will begin daily roundtrip service between Ontario and New York in September.

Along with the increased flights, dining concessions at ONT are in the midst of a $6 million, 18-month upgrade. Popular national brands including WPizza by Wolfgang Puck, Einstein Bros Bagels and Rock & Brews have opened for business in ONT’s passenger terminals in recent weeks.

A separate initiative which includes a $2.4 million capital investment to similarly rebrand and remodel ONT’s retail concessions also is underway.

Ontario continued to post strong cargo volume in April, increasing by 13.5 percent to 55,705 tons compared to April 2017. For the first four months of the year, cargo tonnage was up 15.7 percent over the same period last year. Cargo figures include commercial freight and mail shipments.