ONT still hauling more cargo than passengers

Ontario International Airport started 2021 on the same path that it spent most of 2020: with its cargo numbers overwhelming its passenger count.

Freight volume during the first month of the year topped 70,500 tons, a 15.6 percent increase year-over-year, the Ontario International Airport Authority reported Monday.

That number was a direct result of COVID-19, as Southern Californians continued to rely on e-commerce to keep their households and businesses running. Also, shipments of mail more than doubled, to 3,225 tons, in that time.

“Cargo continued to be a source of strength in January like it was for all of 2020,” said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the airport authority, in a statement. “Freight shippers continued to show great confidence in our ability to provide the infrastructure and facilities they needed to meet increasing demands on the e-commerce supply chain.”

At the same time, passenger counts continued to take a pounding from the pandemic. Nearly 152,000 air travelers moved through Ontario International in January, a 55 percent drop from January 2020, the authority reported.

More than 145,000 were domestic passengers and 6,475 were international fliers, 65 percent and 79 percent drops, respectively, according to the authority.