Burke Lakefront tenants press Cleveland for long-term leases

Airport businesses and aviation groups asked Cleveland officials on Wednesday to back fresh investment at Burke Lakefront Airport, telling a City Council committee that expansion plans have stalled because no long-term leases are available.

The Lakefront Airport Preservation Partnership said tenants are ready to put tens of millions of dollars into their facilities at the airport. The Oct. 7 hearing before the council's Transportation and Mobility Committee drew testimony from Aitheras Aviation, Signature Aviation and Davis Aerospace & Maritime High School.

Aitheras founder George Katsikas described the airport's part in flying organs for transplant patients and proposed building an air medical campus at Burke. Moving those flights to other airports in the region could affect patient care, he said. Signature Aviation and Davis Aerospace also set out expansion plans held up by uncertainty over leases.

Council Member Michael Polensek criticised the city's handling of the site, saying the current approach amounts to letting the airport decline. He said the administration has no wish to sign new leases or see investment there, a position he called hard to understand. Polensek described the city's stance as demolition through neglect.

Mayor Justin Bibb has proposed shutting the airport by 2029 under a wider plan to redevelop the lakefront, and city officials have argued the site is underused. Redeveloping its roughly 450 acres, they say, would open more of the shoreline to the public and create economic activity.

The closure plan has drawn public opposition, including from FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and Ohio Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted. The city has not formally moved ahead with the closure, according to the account of the hearing.