Officials reported a more than 26% increase in passenger volume at Southern California’s Ontario International Airport (ONT) in January compared to the same month last year.
The airport served almost 429,000 passengers, with 405,000 being domestic fliers and over 23,000 international travelers. The number of domestic and international passengers increased by 25% and 43%, respectively.
The CEO of the Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA), Atif Elkadi, stated that the positive start for 2023 follows a strong performance in 2022, during which pre-pandemic passenger volumes were exceeded in nine of 12 months and overall.
The January passenger count was 8.24% higher than in January 2019. Despite a global trend of decreased freight shipments due to earlier-than-normal Chinese New Year and economic headwinds, commercial freight, and mail shipments through ONT still surpassed pre-pandemic levels, with a 3.7% increase from January 2019.