Ontario International Airport having recently killed its airline service to Canada just three months after launching it announced last week that it will introduce service to Mexico beginning Dec. 15.

Airport officials are hoping that AeroMexico’s three new weekend roundtrips from the Inland Empire to Guadalajara and Mexico City will be more successful than Air Canada’s aborted attempt to provide service to Toronto.

AeroMexico will carry as many as 140 passengers per flight from Ontario to Guadalajara with continuing service to Mexico City.

“There is a high degree of confidence that starting this route in the winter (holiday) season is going to put this flight on good footing,” said Nancy Castles, spokeswoman for Los Angeles World Airports, which also runs Los Angeles International, Van Nuys and Palmdale regional airports.

This is actually AeroMexico’s second go-round with Ontario airport. The airline, along with Mexican Airlines and Alaska Airlines, previously offered service from Ontario to points in Mexico. But when the Mexican peso collapsed in 1994, all three carriers dropped those flights.

Ontario International spokeswoman Maria Tesoro said a holiday-season launch of the new flights is not the only factor driving the high hopes for the renewed service. She said the demographics of the Inland Empire are changing with the growth of the Latino community. Other issues supporting the new flights include a strengthening Mexican economy and busy traveler markets in Guadalajara and Mexico City.

Getting out of Canada

The new flights are the second time this year that Ontario International has tried to initiate regular service outside the United States. Air Canada flew from the Inland Empire to the Canadian city of Toronto in the province of Ontario for about three months before deciding to shut down service in September because the number of passengers was not enough to make the service worthwhile.

LAWA officials had initiated that service and pursued the Mexican flights based, at least in part, on a marketing study performed by SH & E; Inc., an international transportation consulting firm.

Tesoro and Castles said the Canadian flights failed for a number of reasons, primarily because flights went to Toronto. SH & E; had recommended flights to Vancouver, a more popular destination for West Coast travelers. But Air Canada officials insisted on Toronto.

Another problem stemmed from a labor dispute between Air Canada and its pilots just as the service began, which resulted in disrupted schedules and canceled flights.

Castles said the Ontario, Calif.-to-Ontario, Canada flights were further hurt by competition from service between Toronto and other more touristy Southern California destinations.

“The market for snow bunnies was going to San Diego and Palm Springs,” she said.

A 1992 economic analysis of flights at Ontario International indicated that each roundtrip passenger traveling through the airport produces $400 in revenue for the airport. Using that multiplier, the new flights to Mexico could mean $168,000 each week for the airport, if the planes are full.

Tesoro said the round-trip service to Mexico could be about $60 more expensive than flights from LAX to the same Mexican destinations. Still, the cost is competitive, she said.

“According to travel agencies, when travelers are going to an area, they’ll bite the bullet to get to a more convenient airport,” she said.

Going international

The AeroMexico flights could be the beginning of increasing international traffic at Ontario International. Castles said LAWA is marketing Ontario International in Tokyo, Frankfurt, London and Sao Paolo, Brazil. But future service between those cities and Ontario International is far from a sure thing.

“Those are already key countries that have business and leisure travelers coming into Southern California,” Castles said. “But there’s stiff competition because we’re competing with tremendous efforts on the part of McCarran International Airport (in Las Vegas).”

To give Ontario International the upper hand, officials of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau plan to take a trip to Mexico, before the Mexican service begins, to promote the flights to travel agents and other tourism promotion outlets there.

Tesoro said three flights weekly diverted from LAX will not solve any congestion issues, but it’s part of the larger picture.

“(Relieving LAX congestion) is kind of part of it, but Ontario’s taking a regional approach,” she said. “Since we’re all owned by the same agency, we’re working together for a regional solution.”