IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Approximately 1.6 million passengers are expected to pass through Ontario International Airport this summer.
1,657,185 airline passengers will arrive and depart Ontario International beginning Friday – the start of Memorial Day weekend – through Sept. 2, Labor Day, according to a statement released by the Ontario International Airport Authority.
That estimate, a 13.9 percent increase if it ends up being accurate, is based on flight schedules. Ontario International handled 1,455,418 passengers last summer, a 14.5 percent increase from 2017.
“Travel demand is always brisk in Southern California, particularly so during the summer months, and passengers are increasingly choosing Ontario as their gateway airport,” said Mark Thorpe, the authority’s chief executive officer, in the statement.
Ontario International, which has flourished since Ontario assumed control of it in November 2016, will add several flights this summer: Delta Airlines will add a second round-trip to Atlanta in June, United Airlines will launch a daily, non-stop flight to Houston in June and Southwest Airlines will add four daily San Francisco flights and expand its Denver service.
Nationwide, air travel is expected to grow by 3.4 percent between June 1 and Aug. 31, to roughly 257.4 million passengers, according to the statement.
