ONT travel almost back to normal

Ontario International Airport’s passenger traffic increased 200 percent year-over-year in June, airport officials announced recently.

The airport’s traffic count last month also reached 90.2 percent of its count in June 2019, another sign of the airport’s ongoing recovery from the pandemic, according to the Ontario International Airport Authority.

More than 431,000 airline passengers traveled through Ontario International last month.  More than 419,000 were domestic travelers, while 11,600 traveled internationally.

“That we welcomed in June three times the number of passengers as June last year is a testament to the demand for air service at Ontario International and the loyalty of our growing customer base,” said Alan Wapner, president of the authority’s board of commissioners, in a statement.

“We expect the resurgence of air travel to continue as airlines quickly add seats at Ontario and passengers fill them at an equally brisk pace.”

During the first six months of this year, Ontario International welcomed more than 1.6 million passengers, 23 percent more than the same period in 2020.

Air freight shipments dropped 13 percent last month compared with June 2020. That decline was expected because so much online shopping happened during the early stages of the pandemic, according to the statement.