ONT: passengers down, cargo up

Nearly 218,000 air travelers passed through Ontario International Airport last month, a year-over-year drop of 55 percent, according to data.

As bad as that number is, it’s not all bad: October was the sixth consecutive month that passenger volume at Ontario International increased, the Ontario International Airport Authority reported.

Domestic passenger volume approached 214,000 last month, a 55 percent decline compared to October 2019. Slightly more than 4,000 International travelers used the airport last month, 82 percent fewer than exactly one year earlier.

Also in October, Delta Airlines began twice-daily flights to and from Seattle, which should help Ontario International’s passenger count during the next few months, and beyond.

“The steady improvement in passenger volume since the full impact of the pandemic was felt in April is an optimistic sign for Ontario,” said Mark Thorpe, the authority’s chief executive officer, in the statement. “While a complete recovery is not likely to occur for another year or more, the pace of our recovery is greatest among airports in California and near the top among airports nationwide.”

In April, Ontario International reached what was likely its low point, when its passenger volume fell 93 percent year-over-year.

On the cargo side, Ontario International continued to flourish. Air freight shipments reached almost 80,000 tons last month, 19.7 percent more than October 2019, according to the airport authority.