OIA passenger traffic grows

Passenger traffic at Ontario International Airport was up during April, helped largely by a boost in international travelers.

Traffic rose 3.95 percent last month compared with April 2014, according to data released Friday by Ontario International’s owner and operator, Los Angeles World Airports.

The airport served 353,362 passengers last month compared with 339,927 travelers exactly one year earlier.

The greatest increase happened on the international side, where traffic increased 74 percent year-over-year, according to LAWA’s monthly report on passenger traffic.

Ontario International’s two international carriers, AeroMexico and Volaris, served more than 11,700 passengers last month. Combined, both airlines offer 11 nonstop flights every week to and from Mexico.

Starting in June, Volaris will add one weekly flight. It will also operate six flights a week to Mexico in July and August to keep up with summer demand, the report stated.

The airport’s international traffic was up 70 percent during the first four months of this year compared with the first four months of 2014. Overall traffic was up only 1.9 percent during that time.

Though its passenger counts have improved lately, Ontario International is still trying to climb out of the hole it fell into when the recession hit: since approximately 2007, its passenger traffic has fallen to levels not seen since the mid-1980s.

Ontario is now locked in a legal battle with LAWA, a city of Los Angeles agency, over control of the facility. The airport’s success is considered by local officials to be crucial to the future economic growth of Ontario and the Inland Empire.