CLEVELAND — Another year of aerial acrobatics concluded at the Cleveland National Air Show over Labor Day weekend. However, questions about the future of Burke Lakefront Airport continue to linger as city officials weigh potential development opportunities.
Last year, just a couple of weeks after the 2024 air show, two studies commissioned by Mayor Justin Bibb’s administration were released, making a case for closing Burke in favor of using the lakefront for other development and arguing that the possible economic loss doesn't outweigh the potential upside of development on the prime real estate.
"Can we close Burke? We think we can,” Jeff Epstein, the mayor’s chief of integrated development, said during an interview in September 2024. “We’re going to work as quickly as we can to get to that final answer. I don’t have a timeline.”
When the reports were released, the mayor and his staff at City Hall had not firmly decided to shut down the Downtown airport. But they were leaning in that direction and trying to find the best route.
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City leaders argued the biggest blow from closing the airport would come from losing the Cleveland National Air Show, an annual event that draws anywhere from 60,000 - 100,000 people on Labor Day weekend.
“That’s three days a year,” City Councilman Kerry McCormack said during an interview in September 2024 in front of the hushed terminal, where only a handful of cars were parked outside.
“So there’s the other 362 days a year that this sits. Like this,” he said.
Kim Dell, executive director of the Cleveland National Air Show, believes the lakefront location sets the event apart from other air shows.
"I do think it's the location. There are other airshows out there along the waterfront but they don't have the spectator area like we do where people can go inside the planes, meet the pilots and explore aviation firsthand," Dell said.
On typical days, the airport handles about 100 takeoffs or landings, mostly private airplanes and medical flights.
In order to shut down the airport, the city would need to get buy-in from the Federal Aviation Administration – or an act of Congress. A closure would involve moving tenants and shifting flights to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport or the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights.
"I'm indifferent, because I don't know what the right answer is; however, I think it's clear as day that it is some of the most critical real estate perhaps in the whole state," one attendee said.
For many air show attendees, who have never flown out of Burke Airport, the weekend event represents something special that should be preserved.
"Keep it where it's at. I'm old school," one visitor said.
"If it's not broke, don't fix it," another attendee said.
Despite uncertainty about the airport's future, air show organizers are already planning bigger events for next year, coinciding with the country's 250th anniversary celebration.
City leaders have previously said it's unclear what would happen to the air show if Burke Airport were to close. They argue the event is too large for Cuyahoga County Airport or Hopkins International Airport, but officials say they would continue looking for ways to keep the show operating downtown.
Reporter Michelle Jarboe contributed to this report.
