Airport Board Member’s $185,000 Travel Bill Triggers Scrutiny and Policy Overhaul

Ontario City Council member Alan Wapner was reimbursed by the Ontario International Airport Authority for 72 trips totaling nearly $185,000 between March 2021 and June 2026, according to records released under the California Public Records Act. Wapner served on the authority's board until recently, and the financial disclosures have raised questions about the scale of his travel compared to his peers.

The airport authority figure is 64 times higher than the combined travel reimbursements of the other four board members during the same period. Board president Ron Loveridge received $2,865 for travel from 2021 to 2026, while the remaining three members did not request any reimbursement. In total, five agencies where Wapner held seats spent $283,630 on his travel, with the other four boards paying a combined $98,632.

Trips funded by the airport authority included destinations such as Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro, the Bahamas, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Madrid, in addition to repeated visits to Hawaii. In January 2023, Wapner billed $8,939.40 for a 17-day conference in Maui, which included a $7,000 rental for a three-bedroom house in Lahaina. His wife accompanied him on several occasions, including an April 2026 trip to Rio de Janeiro that cost $14,325, and a September 2025 visit to Hong Kong that cost $12,701, with airfare alone reaching $7,437.

Wapner defended the expenditures in an email, stating that his travel was necessary to be effective in his position and that no trips were junkets. He argued that the journeys provided access to airline executives, concession operators, and federal officials who influence airport growth. Loveridge noted that the spending complied with authority rules at the time and came from airport revenue rather than tax dollars. However, he said commissioners were unaware of the frequency or cumulative cost because Wapner did not report back to the full board.

In response to the revelations, the airport board approved bylaw changes on September 24 that cap monthly stipends at $1,000. The new rules limit members to one domestic conference annually and one international conference every other year, each requiring advance approval. Spouses' travel expenses can no longer be covered. On October 19, the board voted to establish an internal auditing program with a full-time auditor. Wapner described the board's actions as scapegoating, arguing that travel was a budget line item that members could have questioned.

The scrutiny comes as the FBI searches Wapner’s Ontario home on July 28, along with the homes or offices of Supervisor Curt Hagman, attorney Frank Lizarraga, and others tied to businessman James Su. Subpoenas have also been issued to the airport and City Hall, though no charges have been filed as of October 22. Wapner, who has served on the council since 1994, has dropped his planned mayoral run and is seeking another term. Catherine Lhamon of UC Berkeley’s Edley Center on Law and Democracy called for clear rules and public scrutiny, noting that personal profit from public service is the definition of corruption.

Separate records show Wapner earned about a quarter of a million dollars in meeting stipends from the authority over the past decade, nearly double the amount paid to Hagman. His other board expenses included $62,855 from the City of Ontario, $17,578 from Omnitrans, $12,574 from the Southern California Association of Governments, and $5,625 from the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.