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Travelers wait for a delayed flight at Ontario International Airport in Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that a computer outage has grounded all flights in the United States. As of 5:30 a.m., more than 3,700 flights in and out of the United States were delayed and more than 500 flights were canceled. Flights out of Los Angeles International Airport, Hollywood Burbank Airport and Long Beach Airport were disrupted due to computer outages. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
Four months after winter storms and airline staffing problems stranded travelers at Ontario International Airport for the holidays, aviation experts gathered Wednesday, April 26, to discuss operational challenges facing the industry as a whole and discuss at least one solution — communication.
“The most important thing is our constant communication with our airline partners,” said Atif Elkadi, CEO of Ontario Airports. Thankfully, ONT says it won’t experience much disruption. But when they do happen, it’s important for the airport to keep lines of communication open to help passengers — whether that’s helping with meals or providing baby milk to families with unexpected delays.
“We believe our customers are too,” Elkadi said of air travelers. “We understand how frustrating it is and we care.”
Extreme winter storms, coupled with labor shortages, put the airline industry in a tailspin in late 2022.
There are some pressing issues — Southwest Airlines grounded nationwide earlier this month citing technology issues, and air travel across the U.S. was briefly disrupted in January due to a government computer outage — but the industry as a whole is recovering from disruptions in travel. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, panelists at the CAPA Innovation Aviation Summit 2023 at the Ontario Convention Center said Wednesday.
“Everybody wanted to fly more,” said Greg Mays, chief executive officer of Sun Country Airlines, the Minneapolis-based carrier. “The industry as a whole has seen that we don’t have the capacity to do that.”
Mays and other experts say that keeping lines of communication open between airlines, airports and regulators is important to operations, but also to customer satisfaction. Mays said the “insatiable need” to meet growing demand could threaten the stability of carriers who can communicate their needs and airports and regulators can handle higher passenger levels.
Should airlines compensate passengers for delays and cancellations, as some European carriers do, or make other changes to make it more convenient for passengers?
As long as the airlines are willing to do what’s right, Ontario Airports Chief Operating Officer James Kessler said there’s no need for the government to step in.
Delays and cancellations over the holidays, however, do not appear to have affected demand for air travel out of ONT. In the first three months of the year, ONT served more than 1.3 million passengers, which is a 16.6 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago, the airline said in a news release. In the year After returning to local control in November 2016, ONT reported 30 million passengers traveled through the airport in March.
Hosting world aviation leaders in Ontario this week gave the airport an opportunity to showcase growing operations, Elkadi said. In addition to passenger travel growth, ONT continues to be a leader in commercial cargo and mail shipments. Although cargo volume in the ONT fell by 9 percent in the first three months of the year, worldwide cargo volume fell by 11 percent during the same period.
“People are starting to realize that there is more than one gateway to Southern California,” Elkady said. “It’s not just an option, it’s an option.”
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