Ontario Airport to name new international terminal for Sen. Dianne Feinstein

Southland air travelers who prefer to travel from Ontario rather than the decidedly larger and more congested LAX will soon be flying out of the Dianne Feinstein International Terminal, airport officials announced Thursday.

The Ontario International Airport Authority Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to name the existing Federal Inspection Station after the longtime U.S. senator, and the airport’s future terminal will be dubbed the Dianne Feinstein International Terminal.

Plans for the future terminal are still under development.

“We are honored to dedicate the current and future international facilities to Sen. Feinstein, D-California, whose years of support and advocacy were so critical in ONT’s return to local ownership,” 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 is 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.

“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.”

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