OIA traffic up

Passenger traffic at Ontario International Airport rose slightly in April, helped in part by an increase in international traffic.

The airport serviced 338,421 passengers during the fourth month of the year, a 1.5 percent increase compared with April 2013, according to data released this week by Los Angeles World Airports.

Volaris, a Mexico-based carrier that recently began operating at Ontario International, is partly responsible for that increase, according to LAWA, the Los Angeles agency that owns and operates Ontario International Airport.

The airline began operating a twice-weekly non-stop flight from Ontario to Guadalajara in mid-April. Ontario International now has two airlines that provide non-stop service to Guadalajara: Volaris and AeroMexico.

While it’s encouraging, the increase is “modest’ and should not be interpreted as the start of a trend, said Jess Romo, manager of Ontario International.

Nearly 40,000 tons of air cargo was processed at Ontario International during April, an 8.8 percent year-over-year increase, according to the data.

That continues a positive trend: cargo volume at Ontario International has increased steadily since 2010, according to LAWA.