Nearly 450,000 airline passengers moved through Ontario International Airport (ONT) in July, up 17 percent from the same month last year. July was the sixth month this year that ONT experienced double-digit growth in passenger volume.

For the first seven months of the year, nearly 2.9 million air travelers passed through ONT compared to 2.56 million during the same period a year ago, an increase of more than 12 percent.

At the height of the summer travel season, ONT welcomed 448,299 customers in July, an increase of 16.9 percent over July last year when 383,349 passengers traveled through the airport. The numbers of domestic and international travelers grew last month by 16 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively.

Air cargo shipments, meanwhile, rose 27.4 percent to 63,204 tons of freight and mail, compared to 49,629 tons last July. For the year, cargo shipment volume is up 18.5 percent, to 414,844 tons, compared to the first seven months of 2017.

“We are heartened by the strong growth we continue to see in passenger and cargo volumes,” said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority. “Our customers are looking for attractive alternatives for air service in Southern California and we are working every day to meet their demands.”

Frontier Airlines began daily, non-stop service from ONT to Orlando this month, and JetBlue Airways will begin non-stop service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in September. The OIAA in June approved a lease agreement with FedEx Express to continue the company’s cargo operations at ONT for at least 30 years.

This past week, Ontario marked the completion of a multi-million dollar transformation of its food and beverage concessions.

“I want to congratulate our staff and our partners for the incredible progress that has been made since the airport’s return to local control,” said Jim Bowman, an OIAA commissioner and Ontario City Council member. “What we’re seeing now is only the start of a bold new era for ONT.”