The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Passenger counts climb as virus cases drop
Airport just shy of pre-pandemic passenger levels and running ahead in air-freight volume
Ontario International Airport is benefiting from this year's sharp drop in coronavirus cases, which is unleashing a rising tide of airline passengers and record levels of air freight tonnage at the Inland Empire airport.
In the first two months of the year, the airport had 697,000 total passengers, an increase of 130% over last year. In February alone, 358,000 air passengers came in and out of the airport — more than two times as many as the same month last year and 99% of the total from the pre-pandemic month of February 2019, the airport reported this week.
Passenger growth is overwhelmingly from domestic travelers — 347,000 in February, which was 131% higher than last year. That put the airport's domestic passenger totals 1% higher than February 2019.
Its other business, namely the movement of packages in and out of the airport, showed an 18% increase in freight and mail combined tonnage in February, compared to February 2019. That means the air cargo side of the airport is surpassing business totals from before the pandemic hit.
“Ontario International continues to set the pace for pandemic recovery among medium and large hub airports in California,” Alan D. Wapner, president of the Ontario International Airport Authority Board of Commissioners, said in a prepared statement.
The airport is following increased air travel trends nationwide. U.S. airlines carried 46.3 million scheduled service passengers in January 2022, 33.2%
more than in January 2021, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
“Travel is booming right now,” said Brett Synder, a travel industry blogger from the South Bay who edits crankyflier.com and runs the travel-aid site crankyconcierge.com. “People want to get out. They want to travel. They are doing it in spades.”
After two years of the pandemic, with numerous months of shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, people are getting on airplanes to visit family and take vacations, Snyder said. Ontario airport relies on discount airlines and more convenient parking, with shorter Transportation Security Administration and baggage claim lines than many other Southern California airports, airport officials said.
Location factor.
Ontario International serves the Inland Empire as well as the San Gabriel Valley and north Orange County. It is also gaining new passengers because the Inland area is growing, airport spokesperson Steve Lambert said.
“The Inland Empire has 4.5 million people,” Lambert said. “Last year, it grew by 33,000 new households. is another key
And in 2020, we were second only to Phoenix in migration. That will help an airport grow.”
There could be dark clouds on the horizon.
Wapner said the two factors that could slow future growth — rising fuel costs and the war in Ukraine — “pose some uncertainty for air travel …”
Airline travel experts agree but said these issues are not yet affecting airplane travel but could come into play in late spring, summer or even later in the year.
The war “won’t affect March travel but it could impact the airlines in the future,” Snyder said.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, a conflict showing little sign of tapering off, may scare away some future air travelers. Already, travel to Russia is non-existent and bookings to European cities are slowing down. This affects larger airports, such as LAX, more than Ontario, Hollywood Burbank or John Wayne, which don’t have many international passengers.
“But it is certainly something to keep an eye on,” Lambert said. “We (Ontario International) don’t have direct European flights, but any time there is uncertainty in the world it does have an impact on the psyche of traveling.”
Jet airplanes run on aviation kerosene, known as Jet A or Jet A-1, a petroleumbased fuel. Since the cost of crude oil and other industry fuels, such as diesel and gasoline, is rising, so is the cost of airplane fuel. Demand also is sky high.
Airlines can respond by reducing the number of seats available. When high demand meets fewer seats, ticket prices rise — as do airline revenues.
“They (airlines) can start doing that in summer and further down the line if they think fuel prices are a problem,” Snyder said. “Airlines are always trying to sell their seats for as much money as they can.”
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