IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
A lawsuit between Ontario and Los Angeles regarding control of Ontario International Airport will move forward now that both sides have failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.
That decision came during a hearing Wednesday in Riverside County Superior Court, according to a report first published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
The suit, which Ontario filed in June, alleged that Los Angeles – owner of both Ontario International and Los Angeles International airports – has neglected Ontario International while pouring virtually all of its resources into LAX.
Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that runs Ontario International, has offered to sell the airport to Ontario for $474 million. That’s nearly double what Ontario offered to pay for it two years ago, according to the report.
Passenger traffic at OIA last year dropped to 3.9 million, its lowest point since the mid-1980s. Los Angeles officials blame the passenger decline, and the cuts some airlines have made at Ontario International, on the bad economy.
Both sides are scheduled to return to court June 6 for a status conference, according to the report.
