CLEVELAND — Pilots and aviation companies want Cleveland to invest in Burke Lakefront Airport — and give businesses there more runway to grow.
That was the message during a lengthy Cleveland City Council committee meeting Wednesday, the fifth in a series of hearings about the future of the city-owned airport and the prolonged debate over shutting it down.
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s push to close Burke is grounded, for now.
In August, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration told News 5 that getting rid of the airport would be “counterproductive” for air-traffic safety and economic growth. And Ohio’s U.S. senators are deferring to the FAA. They’re not willing to legislate a closure.
WATCH: FAA administrator, Sen. Moreno say shutting Burke is a non-starter
Now the Bibb administration is in a holding pattern, watching to see if the political winds in Washington, D.C., change after the November midterm elections.
But Burke’s supporters aren’t sitting idle.
WATCH: Cleveland National Air Show fans weigh in on the Burke debate
“There are powers that be that are still hell-bent on shutting this airport down,” said Drew Ferguson, the founder and CEO of Argonaut, a nonprofit that works with high school students in Cleveland to prepare them for jobs in aerospace and maritime fields.
Two students from nearby Benjamin O. Davis High School flanked Ferguson at one end of council’s long committee table.
“The airport is more than just a place where planes take off and land,” said Edward Sotelo, a sophomore who wants to become an airframe and powerplant mechanic. “It’s a place where people can learn about aviation and discover careers in the industry.”
He and Samuel Vega, a senior, said proximity and access to Burke are critical for students. Their school is located off Lakeside Avenue downtown. Ideally, Vega said, they’d be situated on the airport’s campus, with easier access to their hangar and plane.
“There’s just not a lot of opportunities for young people to get close with aviation,” said Vega, a pilot.
Representatives from Signature Aviation and Aitheras Aviation Group told council members that there’s room for existing businesses at Burke to grow.
WATCH: Businesses mobilize to save Burke
Signature, a fixed base operator, provides fueling, maintenance, hangar space and other services at Burke. Josh Herrmann, the general manager, said Signature has invested more than $12 million at Burke since 2016. The company employs 18 people at the airport and supports thousands of flights each year.
Herrmann noted that Signature has a long-term lease at Burke — a rarity at a facility where most tenants are on one-year leases with the city. Those short-term agreements are a sticking point for tenants like Aitheras, which provides air ambulances and organ-transplant flights, among other services.
George Katsikas, the company’s CEO, showed council members an image of what a new Aitheras headquarters complex, hangar and fueling hub could look like at Burke.
He said he’s not looking for city subsidies. He just wants certainty.
“If we’re able to stay here, we would construct new facilities,” he said. “We would continue hiring professionals. We would enhance the emergent services that are needed that support the Cleveland Clinic and other systems in our community. … We’ve been here for 20 years, and we will continue to stay here for another 20.”
He and other advocates believe Burke can be a moneymaker for Cleveland’s airport system if it’s handled right, with the potential for mixed-use development and green space on the fringes of the property.
Today, Burke is a money-loser. It’s subsidized by operations at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport — not through local tax dollars.
“Burke loses money because it’s death by a thousand cuts,” Khalid Bahhur, a former city airport commissioner, told council members.
The Bibb administration believes there are better uses for a huge stretch of publicly owned lakefront land, in a city where much of the shoreline is private.
WATCH: What could replace Burke Lakefront Airport? New study shows the possibilities.
Conceptual layout plans released in March showed the potential for replacing Burke with an expansive youth sports complex, a waterfront campground, green space, walking trails, a restaurant and a fishing pier.
Those images, commissioned by the nonprofit North Coast Waterfront Development Corp., also included a vertiport, a facility designed for helicopters and emerging electric aircraft that don't need a traditional runway.
For now, those plans are sitting on the proverbial shelf.
Without an act of Congress, the city doesn’t have a realistic, clear path to closing Burke. The other options are seeking FAA approval, which is clearly a non-starter, or waiting until 2039, when the last strings tied to past federal and state grants for airport planning and projects burn off.
City Council isn’t being asked to take any action. But that’s not stopping the debate.
“It’s time for the council, as a whole, to have the conversation about where we see Burke in the future,” Councilman Brian Kazy said.
Councilman Austin Davis, whose ward includes Burke, described the airport as an “albatross” that’s taking up valuable lakefront land. “How much of our business at Burke is just catering to things that could easily be moved to Hopkins?” he asked.
But other council members said they’ll fight any attempt to close Burke — whether it’s a swift shutdown or a slow decline through disinvestment.
“Burke airport can be an economic engine,” Councilman Mike Polensek said.
Councilman Richard Starr also opposes a closure. He’s skeptical about the viability of any redevelopment proposals. And he thinks city leaders should be spending their time on other priorities, from workforce development and blight clean-up to education.
“If Burke airport comes up for a vote, for me, it is a super ‘no,’” Starr said.
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
