USA. Ontario International Airport is celebrating the successful introduction of a unique partnership with the renowned California Science Center that has resulted in a pioneering visitor attraction opening at the southern California hub.
California Science Center, a state agency and museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, welcomed almost 1.7 million visitors in 2022, making it the country’s most-visited science museum.
Its mission is to stimulate curiosity and inspire science learning in everyone by creating fun, memorable experiences.
That’s very much in line with Ontario International Airport’s customer engagement philosophy and precisely what has been delivered at Terminal 4 where a California Science Center welcome centre opened in late June.
The attraction displays film footage shot by divers inside the California Science Center’s aquarium, which was then spliced together to create an interactive immersive experience.
The initiative was the brainchild of Scott Jacobson, CEO and founder of Fuse Advancement, which works closely with the airport company and has been instrumental in tripling its advertising revenue since the business was brought in-house in 2021.
Following discussions with California Science Center regarding an advertising partnership at the airport the discussions evolved into creating a visitor attraction highlighting the Center’s amazing experiences.
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The installation was opened during The Moodie Davitt Report’s visit to Ontario International [ONT] during the 2024 Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) + Hospitality Conference & Awards hosted by the airport company in early June.
A spokesperson for ONT said: “One of Ontario International Airport’s core objectives is to continually seek to improve the customer experience and evolve and develop great partnerships with local businesses and institutions.
“As ONT’s traffic is reaching record levels in 2024 – a year-end forecast is showing the airport will surpass 7.2 million passengers this year, an all-time high – we wanted to create an interactive welcome experience for passengers arriving in Ontario.
“The initial feedback has been fantastic with ONT guests praising the addition to the airport experience via social media and direct comments to airport personnel.”
The creation of such an activation in a medium-sized hub highlights ONT’s ambitions to be the major gateway to the Inland Empire and southern California.
We will bring you more on the ‘ONT experience’ in The Moodie Davitt Magazine (digital and print) to be published at both TFWA World Exhibition in late September and The Trinity Forum in early November. ✈
Note: Airports in North America seeking to create a similar experience can contact Scott Jacobson at sjacobson@flyontario.com
