Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport

November 2025

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) is a significant airport with runways longer than anything at Chicago Midway and only 400’ shorter than runways at NY LaGuardia that, if leveraged properly could be used to grow the city and region. Its an incredible economic and competitive asset which few cities have—a capable airport so close to the central business district. However, the current administration of the city not only doesn’t invest in or promote the airport, but rather seeks to close the airport, and through questionable means.

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport is a critical economic and aviation asset and should not be closed. Moreover, no airport that serves the national interest and benefits the flying public should be closed simply because the current mayor who controls the airport just wants it closed, and, in Cleveland’s case, lacks an understanding of the role of the airport and publicly releases disingenuous studies that are aligned to his interests and lack full analysis.

We drafted a letter to specific members of Congress, DOT, and the FAA detailing why Burke should remain open. The letter was prompted by Mayor Justin Bibb’s letter, co-signed by Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, of October 22, 2025 requesting federal “partnership and support” and “explicit Congressional authorization” to close Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL). Bibb is aware of the “loophole” of how to bypass the typical way to close an airport which is after Federal grant expiration and through FAA approval following an FAA analysis and obtaining FAA Associate Administrator for Airports concurrence, so he is pursuing a workaround: get Congress to create a law directing the FAA to allow or order closure.

See our full letter, to the right, from the Center for Cleveland to the same federal officials, while adding the FAA and some others, dated November 4, 2025.

Of particular interest, please note:

• The Bibb Administration is suppressing traffic at BKL by denying a commercial air carrier from using Burke to serve a city not currently served from Cleveland. Doing such not only artificially suppresses traffic numbers at Burke to support Bibb’s “story” for closing Burke, but diminishes airline competition in Cleveland, making travel more expensive and timelier for Ohioans, prevents new jobs in the city that would result from the new airline, and eliminates the economic development outcomes that result from a new airline route. (Paragraphs 15-18 in the attached letter).

• Irreversible health effects in suburban children:  Almost all general aviation uses leaded fuel. Mayor Bibb wants to push general aviation traffic to suburban general aviation airports, namely, Cuyahoga County, Lorain County Regional, Medina Municipal, and Lake County Executive Airports. The EPA states: “The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children…aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air.”  (Paragraph 27).

• Bibb is seeking closure with zero understanding of the profound environmental issues at Burke which could make any redevelopment, including a park, unlikely; remediation costs could readily be $500M, meaning the airport would be closed for no reason; an economic asset would be lost, and a new fenced-off taxpayer-funded garbage dump would take its place, unless a developer would be willing to pay for such despite the fact that more centrally located Downtown waterfront land (between W.3 and E. 9) has sat vacant for decades. (Paragraphs 6-12).

• Neither of Bibb’s “studies” recommended airport closure, and both studies were focused on closure; no study was commissioned on how Burke could be leveraged to grow Cleveland (Paragraphs 19-21).

Burke Lakefront Airport should remain open unless there are proper and comprehensive studies and sufficient funding for environmental remediation and development showing otherwise, as the mayor’s studies were disingenuously designed and focused only on closure rather than examining all options, including an assessment of how Burke, with investment and proper leadership, could be leveraged to grow the economy and health of the city and region.
 
Burke is a critical economic and aviation asset for Greater Cleveland whose capacity cannot be readily replaced. Our letter provides an in-depth look at why Bibb’s request is horrendously misguided and bad for the entire Cleveland region.

View or download the letter.

Have a comment? We’d love to hear from you about this critical project!

Document Viewing & Downloads:

Outline of the Letter

A. Burke’s Capabilities

B. Major Environmental Issues

C. Adjacent Vacant Undeveloped Land for Decades and Profound Development & Financing Challenges

D. Cleveland desperately needs economic and business growth. BKL gives Cleveland a competitive edge and BKL business traffic is currently growing.

E.  Bibb’s “studies” are flawed by design while his administration turns away an airline, and suppresses airline competition impacting Cleveland and all US travelers

F. Burke Doesn’t Cost Taxpayers a Dime

G. New Potential Impacts to Cleveland Hopkins Necessitates the Need for Burke for Emergencies and Disruptions

H. Nonsensical Claims

I. More brain developmental issues from lead for children in the suburbs

J. Need for “Real” Studies before any Actions are Taken