The airport was originally built by one of the first flying clubs in southern California, The Friends of Ontario Airport, and dates back to 1923, when a landing field was established east of Central Avenue (three miles west of the current airport) on land leased from the Union Pacific Railroad. The airfield was named Latimer Field in honor of an orange-packing company located next to the airstrip. In 1929 the city of Ontario purchased a 30-acre (12 ha) tract in the southwest corner of the present airport for $12,000 and established Ontario Municipal Airport.
LA/Ontario International Airport (IATA: ONT, ICAO: KONT, FAA LID: ONT), formerly and still commonly known as Ontario International Airport, is a public airport located 2 NM (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) east of the central business district (CBD) of Ontario, a city in San Bernardino County, California, USA. This airport is owned and operated by the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency of the city of Los Angeles. In 2008, 6.2 million passengers used the airport, a decline of 13.5% compared to 2007.The April 2011 passenger volume was down 4.6% than the year previous.