Ontario International Airport customers who park off-site and take shuttles to their gate are paying more to do so, after airport officials raised fees charged to parking vendors by more than 2,000%.
Earlier this year, the Ontario International Airport Authority began charging the two companies that provide off-site parking 12% of their gross revenues rather than a flat rate. Before, the companies paid $8,449 a year in licensing fees to OIAA. This year, the companies estimate they’ll pay a combined $400,000 — a jump of 2,267 percent over their previous combined fees of $16,898.
Noah Mehzun, the chief internal auditor of the Atlanta-based Park ‘N Fly, reached out to the airport authority to find out what caused the big increase. He says he was told “our industry directly impacted theirs, and we were competition to to them, so they have to do this.”
“We have taken an extensive look at how business has been conducted at ONT since it has been under local control,” airport authority spokesman Steve Lambert said in a written statement. The authority took over control of the airport from Los Angeles World Airports in 2016, after 50 years of largely hands-off management from Los Angeles.
“We have a financial responsibility to develop non-aeronautical revenue from parking, concessions, and real estate,” Lambert said. “We did a nationwide analysis of parking costs at airports and we are comparable across the board.”
Mehzun, whose company operates off-site parking at 15 airports nationally, including Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and San Francisco, disagreed the percentage-based fee is a national standard.
“Dallas is one of the big airports that does the percentage of gross revenue,” Mehzun said.
OIAA CEO Mark Thorpe and deputy executive director Atif Elkadi both previously worked at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
“They should have said ‘We want to put you out of business and we want everyone who flies out of here to park in our parking lot,’” said Jennifer Corso, general manager at Sunrise Airport Parking, the second off-site parking vendor that serves ONT travelers.
“Obviously, (customers) come here because of the service and the pricing,” she said. “We’ve always been the least expensive pricing.”
Since the new rates went into effect on Jan. 1, both companies have added a “recovery fee” to customers’ bills, $1.10 for Sunrise customers and a 12% fee for Park ‘N Fly customers.
In January and February alone, which Mehzun says is Park ‘N Fly’s slowest time of the year, the company has paid $40,000 in fees to the airport. According to Corso, Sunrise has paid $30,972 in the first three months of the year.
Comparing March 2018 trips to March 2019 trips, Corso said she’s seen a drop-off in customers served. She blames the higher costs charged to customers.
Both parking companies’ contracts with the airport authority run through June. At that time, Corso and Mehzun said, they’ll likely need to make some hard decisions.
“We’re definitely looking at our numbers and seeing what we can do” to continue operations, Mehzun said, including asking the landlord to lower the rent. “If we can’t, we’re not going to be here for long.”
Park ‘N Fly, at 3555 E. Airport Drive, has served the ONT market since 1995. Sunrise, at 1236 E. Airport Drive, has been in operation since 1987. If both companies leave the airport, about 60 employees stand to lose their jobs, and the city could lose revenue, as well.
“If we leave, our landlord will probably convert that land to warehouses, which doesn’t generate the same tax revenue that we do,” Mehzun said.
Corso, meanwhile, said her company doesn’t have the option of simply leaving the market the way Park ‘N Fly can.
“Park ‘N Fly, they lease their land,” she said. “If Park ‘N Fly were to pull out, they’d redevelop that land, no problem. Sunrise Parking, we own our land. If we pull out, what else would we do with the land to make the land worthwhile? What are we going to do, go-kart racing?”
This story has been updated to remove an incorrect dollar amount.
