Ontario airport names international terminal for Sen. Dianne Feinstein – San Bernardino Sun

Air travelers who choose the Ontario airport will soon embark from the Dianne Feinstein International Terminal, officials have announced.

The Ontario International Airport Authority board voted Thursday, Aug. 25, to name the existing Federal Inspection Station and ONT’s future terminal after the longtime U.S. senator from California, who is credited with helping to return the Ontario airport to local control in 2015.

“We are honored to dedicate the current and future international facilities to Sen. Feinstein,” Ontario Mayor Pro Tem Alan D. Wapner, also president of the OIAA Board, said in a statement. “She understood the importance of this airport not only to this community, but to air travel across Southern California and beyond. We are grateful for her work in bringing all sides together to ensure that Ontario International be returned to the community and region it serves.”

Ownership of the Ontario airport shifted in 2015 from Los Angeles World Airports — the city agency that runs LAX. Ontario officials pushed for the move, alleging that Los Angeles officials were more focused on boosting flight operations at LAX than at the outlying airfield. ONT began operations under local control in November 2016.

“I was so proud to play a role in the expansion of Ontario International Airport, and I’m so pleased to watch ONT continue to grow its footprint in the region,” Feinstein said in a statement. “I recall flying into Ontario every month when I served on the California Women’s Board of Terms and Parole in the 1960s. Back then, ONT was just a regional airstrip, but today Ontario is a major international airport and an economic engine, and I’m honored to have helped spark that evolution.”

Plans for the future terminal that will bear Feinstein’s name are still under development, airport officials said.

In the first three years following transition to local management in 2016, ONT reported steady passenger volume growth. That number took a hit during the pandemic but in June airport officials announced ONT had surpassed pre-pandemic passenger volumes for three months straight.