Southern California’s Ontario International Airport Authority receives strong financial outlook from robust pandemic recovery

S&P Global Ratings raises outlook to positive and affirms long-term credit rating for revenue bonds

S&P Global Ratings raised its outlook of the Ontario International Airport Authority’s (OIAA) outstanding revenue bonds to positive and affirmed its long-term investment grade rating of A-minus, largely on the strength of the Southern California gateway’s pandemic recovery.

“The outlook revision reflects our view of (Ontario International Airport’s) recent positive enplanement trends that have exceeded S&P Global Ratings’ updated activity recovery estimates, with July, August and September 2021 monthly enplanements at 97%, 92% and 97% of pre-pandemic levels, respectively,” the credit rating agency said in its risk analysis.

In addition to Ontario International’s return to near pre-pandemic passenger volumes, S&P Global noted the airport’s access to federal stimulus grants, attractiveness as a cargo hub and strong management and governance, which are supported by the region’s economic fundamentals, for the positive outlook and A-minus credit rating.

“The S&P outlook is welcome news for ONT on the heels of the fifth anniversary of our return to local control,” said Alan D. Wapner, President of the OIAA Board of Commissioners, and Mayor pro Tem of the City of Ontario. “We have worked aggressively since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain our airfield and facilities while modernizing our cargo facilities in anticipation of a full return to normal operations in 2022.

“Airlines are showing their confidence in our airport with the resumption of flights and the creation of new routes, increasing the number of nonstop destinations from Ontario International to 25 in recent months,” Wapner said.

Passenger traffic recovery at ONT has exceeded national trends, S&P Global explained in its analysis: “The combination of vaccine progress, easing mobility restrictions, strong economic growth, and pent-up domestic leisure travel demand has contributed to ONT’s strong recovery in air travel demand, which we expect will be sustained. Our overall financial risk profile is unchanged at strong.”

S&P Global Ratings is a leading provider of credit ratings with more than 1 million credit ratings outstanding on government, corporate, financial sector and structured finance entities and securities.