OIA Passenger Traffic Drops

International traffic has been driving the engine recently at Ontario International Airport, increasing steadily during the last year or so.

That trend went away in May.

The airport’s two international carriers – AeroMexico and Volaris, both of which have regular flights to and from Mexico – experienced an 18.8 percent drop in passenger traffic during the month, according to data released this week by Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that owns and operates Ontario International.

Fortunately, domestic travel was up 0.44 percent, so the decline in overall traffic – 0.27 percent – was minimal.

Still, the drop – about 2,500 passengers – was noteworthy because it was in a category that has performed so well of late. During the first five months of this year, international traffic at Ontario International was up 3.1 percent compared with the same period in 2015, according to LAWA.

“That sounds pretty drastic,” said Harold Johnson, LAWA spokesman. “It could have been a fare increase, I don’t know. But I think you need to look at the total number and not just the international number.”

Ontario International handled 2,168 tons of mail during May, a year-over-year drop of 9.25 percent, but that was more that offset by 39,593 tons of freight that was handled there during the month, a 8.75 percent increase. Overall air cargo was up 7.64 percent at Ontario International compared with May 2015, LAWA reported.