CLEVELAND — As the push to close Cleveland’s Burke Lakefront Airport gains momentum, a coalition of pilots and businesses are now fighting to keep it open.
“It’s not just as easy as saying, ‘Well, the airplanes can land somewhere else,’” Ned Parks, President of the Northeast Ohio Pilots Association, said.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has been accelerating efforts to decommission Burke since agreeing to a $100 million exit deal with the Browns. The team will leave the downtown stadium for Brook Park at the end of their lease, and the city will use much of the settlement money to reimagine and develop a lakefront without them.
As part of the agreement, billionaire team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam are supporting Mayor Justin Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronayne in their efforts to develop downtown.
“We have long been proponents of a reimagined lakefront and know how it can transform our city,” Haslam Sports Group spokesperson Peter John-Baptiste said in a statement. “We will continue to partner with Mayor Bibb and local leaders to be helpful in any way possible.”
As part of their plan, Bibb and Ronayne are working to get Burke closed as quickly as possible to open up more land for public access and private development.
“My team was in D.C. last week and met with the Senate and Congressional delegation from Ohio,” Ronayne said. “We got great receptivity. We think that their general feedback is ‘Show us a plan. Show us it’s doable. Don’t have us pay for it all, and we’ll listen to you.’”
But as the discussion of Burke’s closure becomes more serious, the local aviation community is raising alarm bells. Northeast Ohio Pilots Association President Ned Parks is part of a coalition of pilots and businesses asking the city to keep the airport open.
“Literally every non-airline airport or aviation activity takes place here,” Parks said. “There’s flight training. There’s an enormous amount of medical flights that come in and out of here.”
Spectrum News 1 reached out to Cleveland’s major hospital systems for comment on the impact of closing Burke on medical operations. None had a stated position on the issue, but a spokesperson for the Cleveland Clinic confirms that a majority of their 850 organ transplants last year arrived through Burke.
Parks said military and private flights also fly into Cleveland through the lakefront airport and claims there is nowhere else in the region that can support its operations, but his biggest concern is the economic impact of the airport leaving.
“All the employees that are aviation-related here at this airport would have to be re-homed at the city’s expense in order to get this airport closed,” Parks said.
A 2024 study commissioned by the city found Burke generates about $77 million dollars in revenue each year, including from the Cleveland National Air Show. However, the same study found that closing Burke and developing the land it sits on would be the most economically productive use of that space.
Ronayne said between Cleveland Hopkins Airport, the county’s airport in Richmond and more regional airports, there are ways to find new places for those aviation stakeholders, and many of them will stay within Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
“We understand the need for a regional aviation system that works for all,” he said.
While his coalition has sent letters to the mayor and politicians in D.C., Parks said he still hasn’t heard from Bibb’s office. He’s hoping to at least have a conversation about their concerns and a potential compromise. He suggested closing one of the airport’s two runways and developing around it.
“We want to come to the table and talk about this as a ‘both and’ not an ‘either or,’” Parks said. “It’s not about keeping the airport open and doing nothing with it, which is what’s been happening for a long time, or closing the airport and turning it into a lakefront park. It’s about how can both of these coexist?”
Ronayne said that while it’s ultimately up to the city to decide how to move forward, he’s willing to explore all options.
“I think we ought to look at that possible hybrid approach of public access and development and yet remain open to the conversation about some aviation use,” he said.
A spokesperson for Bibb’s office said they’re open to hearing the coalition’s concerns but are hoping to close Burke as soon as possible.
Nora McKeown
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