SOUTHERN California's Ontario International Airport (ONT) continued to see strong growth in commercial air freight in May as tonnage handled rose more than 24 per cent, the third straight month of better than 20 per cent gains, reported the American Journal of Transportation.
Meanwhile the number of passengers who flew in and out of the airport fell 85 per cent, a decline entirely attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown, officials said.
Ontario processed better than 81,000 tons of commercial cargo last month, 24.1 per cent more than May 2019. From January through May, freight totalled more than 342,000 tons, up 18.3 per cent over the first five months of last year.
'The global coronavirus pandemic continued to drive dramatic changes in cargo and passenger volumes as southern Californians remained at home and relied on the e-commerce supply chains for many of their household supplies,' said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority.
'At the same time, like airports across the US, we saw another month of significantly lower passenger volumes. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that passenger traffic will pick up in the coming months based on flight schedules published by air carriers.'
The increase in May freight shipments continued the run of significantly higher commercial cargo volume since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ontario experienced increases of 22 per cent and 26 per cent in March and April.
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Meanwhile the number of passengers who flew in and out of the airport fell 85 per cent, a decline entirely attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown, officials said.
Ontario processed better than 81,000 tons of commercial cargo last month, 24.1 per cent more than May 2019. From January through May, freight totalled more than 342,000 tons, up 18.3 per cent over the first five months of last year.
'The global coronavirus pandemic continued to drive dramatic changes in cargo and passenger volumes as southern Californians remained at home and relied on the e-commerce supply chains for many of their household supplies,' said Mark Thorpe, chief executive officer of the Ontario International Airport Authority.
'At the same time, like airports across the US, we saw another month of significantly lower passenger volumes. Nonetheless, we are optimistic that passenger traffic will pick up in the coming months based on flight schedules published by air carriers.'
The increase in May freight shipments continued the run of significantly higher commercial cargo volume since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ontario experienced increases of 22 per cent and 26 per cent in March and April.
SeaNews Turkey