Air Show, Business Travel Make Closing Burke Lakefront Airport Difficult

For nearly as long as the story of Cleveland’s comeback has been touted, a popular topic of conversation has been the fate of Burke Lakefront Airport. But after years of talk, the city of Cleveland is trying to take action to close the airport on the shore of Lake Erie.

Ordinarily, closing an airport is a lengthy process. A 2022 study by CHA Consulting indicated that closing Burke could happen once the airport is free of federal grant obligations, which would be 2036 at the earliest. But the city can bypass that with an act of Congress.

Last fall, Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Ohio senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, and U.S. representative Shontel Brown, asking for federal intervention to expedite closure.

“For decades, Burke has consumed a vast stretch of lakefront land while aviation activity has steadily declined,” the letter said in part. “What was once envisioned as a flourishing reliever airport is today an underutilized airfield with a fraction of its former traffic.”

But closing Burke with an act of Congress could set a dangerous precedent, says Kyle Lewis, the Great Lakes regional manager for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

“You can ask Congress to close an airport, and it’s been done, but there are usually extenuating circumstances, like a new airport,” says Lewis, one of the organizers of the Lakefront Airport Preservation Partnership, a consortium of occupants and users of the airport. “We don’t want the federal government to go down this route where a mayor or city council wants to close an airport for a park or some other development.”

READ MORE: Two Concepts Unveiled for the Future of Burke Lakefront Airport

Cleveland city manager William Hopkins first pitched the idea of a lakefront airport for seaplanes carrying cargo. It opened in 1947, when Cleveland was a larger city and had a larger corporate base. But even today, Lewis says, its location is still a selling point.

“There are cities across the country that would love to have an airport that is close to downtown,” he says.

While a 2022 study by ESI estimates that most of Burke’s $76.6 million economic impact can be made up throughout the city and county, Lewis says that there is existing infrastructure that can’t be easily replaced. Lewis also notes that hangar space is at a premium in the area. And the Cleveland National Air Show with an economic impact of more than $10 million, advocates claim, would be in jeopardy.

Burke had 50,000 operations last year, Lewis says, which is comparable to other airports of its size. Part of the reason it might seem underutilized is that the city is making it seem that way.

“It really needs investment to reach its full potential,” he says. “The city wants to drive people away and make it look like it should be closed.”  

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