ONT flies high in January

Ontario International Airport is off to a good start in 2023.

January’s passenger count topped the January 2022 count by 26 percent, as nearly 429,000 air travelers passed through the airport, according to a report released today.

Domestic fliers totaled 405,000, while the international count reached 23,000, year-over-year increases of 25 percent and 43 percent, respectively, the Ontario International Airport Authority reported.

January’s 8.4 percent count was higher than January 2019, the last pre-COVID-19 year.

“January marked a positive start for 2023, as Ontario [International] experienced strong demand for both domestic and international travel,” said Atif Elkadi, the airport authority’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “The good news to begin 2023 follows our strong performance in 2022, during which we exceeded pre-pandemic passenger volumes in nine of 12 months and for the year overall.”

Cargo shipments – mail and commercial freight – continued to top pre-pandemic levels, rising 3.7 percent compared with January 2019.

However, the 62,771 tons of cargo that Ontario International handled last month was down eight percent from January 2022. That matched a global drop in freight shipments that’s being attributed to an early Chinese New Year and shifts in the global economy, according to the report.