(September 20) The number of flights out of Ontario International Airport will increase over the next several months, following the addition of flights by AeroMexico and United Airlines.
Both airlines announced the upcoming changes to their flying schedules out of Ontario earlier this month.
Last week, Ontario International and AeroMexico jointly announced AeroMexico will resume daily service from Ontario International to Guadalajara, Mexico beginning October 1. The change marks the first time since 2006 that daily service is available from Ontario on AeroMexico. Currently, AeroMexico has flights out of Ontario four days a week, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
On September 13, Ontario International and United announced that United Airlines will add a fifth flight from Ontario to San Francisco beginning December 19, 2013.
United Airlines currently operates four daily flights from Ontario to San Francisco using CRJ-200 regional jet aircraft. The airline also offers two daily flights to Denver and two daily flights to Houston from Ontario.
The announcement comes as the city of Los Angeles and the corporate entity it uses to manage and operate Los Angeles International Airport, Van Nuys Airport and Ontario International Airport, known as Los Angeles World Airports, has come under increasing fire by the city of Ontario and other local officials over what has been characterized as the deliberate mismanagement of Ontario International Airport to drive down passenger traffic there to benefit Los Angeles International Airport.
In 1967, the city of Ontario entered into a joint powers authority arrangement with the city of Los Angeles to allow Los Angeles to manage Ontario International, where passenger traffic at that time was less than 200,000 per year. Los Angeles, using its control of gate positions at Los Angeles International Airport as leverage, induced commercial airlines to fly more frequently into and out of Ontario and to use Ontario as an alternate landing destination during fog-ins at Los Angeles International Airport in lieu of Santa Barbara Airport.
Under Los Angeles’s management, use of Ontario International Airport vastly increased. Over the four-and-a-half decades Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports had control of Ontario Airport, they made substantial improvements to the facility, including paving its gravel parking lot, lengthening and modernizing its runways and building two modern terminals. In 1985, after all of the terms set down in the joint powers authority operating agreement had been met, Ontario deeded the airport to Los Angeles for no consideration.
In 2007, slightly more than 7.2 million passengers flew into and out of Ontario, a record for the facility. Since that time, however, as improvements at Los Angeles International Airport have been made and Los Angeles World Airports has imposed higher per-enplaned passenger fees on the airlines at Ontario than in Los Angeles, ridership into and out of Ontario has dramatically decreased, falling this year to a projected 4.1 million.
Ontario has for the last three years faulted Los Angeles World Airports for that decline and, after pushing for a different management approach at the airport, has lobbied to have Los Angeles return control of Ontario International Airport to Ontario. Last year, Ontario formed with San Bernardino County the Ontario International Airport Authority, an entity intended to take on management and operational responsibility at the facility upon Los Angeles surrendering and Ontario regaining ownership. Earlier this year, Ontario sued Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports in an effort to force Los Angeles to relinquish control of the airport.
Los Angeles World Airports has consistently insisted that the drawdown in passenger traffic at Ontario International Airport is a consequence of the economic slowdown gripping the nation, state and region since 2008, as well as contractions in the airline industry, and has denied Ontario’s charges that the airport is being mismanaged deliberately to decrease passenger traffic there or to benefit Los Angeles International.
Los Angeles World Airport officials hailed the advance announcement of the increases in the AeroMexico and United Airlines flights as an indicator that the decline in passengers at Ontario International is about to be reversed.
“This is great news for travelers who need more options when traveling up north, especially to the Bay Area,” said Jess Romo, Los Angeles World Airport’s designated manager for Ontario International. “San Francisco is a popular destination for both business and leisure travelers.
“We’re excited about the additional AeroMexico flights,” Romo continued. “We anticipate that the additional service to San Francisco and daily service to Guadalajara will be in great demand especially now that the holiday season is approaching.”
Other airlines currently serving Ontario International, located approximately 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, include Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and US Airways.
Ontario International is a medium-hub, full-service airport with commercial service to 14 major U.S. cities and through service to many international destinations. The airport provides approximately 60 daily flights offered by 7 carriers.