Cleveland Hopkins Airport Faces Passenger Decline in October, Spirit Airlines Cuts Impact Numbers

With 848,460 passengers, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) saw a 7.3 percent decrease in passengers this past October when compared to October 2023. CLE authorities said the decline was mostly caused by uncontrollable causes, such as airline flight cancellations. Spirit Airlines was the main cause of the fall and made large cuts as a result of its financial difficulties.

The decline in figures contrasts with CLE’s overall trajectory this year, which has been positively increasing overall. Bryant L. Francis, C.M., Director of Port Control, told Cleveland19, “We are still preparing for a busy holiday travel season to close out the year, even though October came in a bit lower than anticipated.” The airport’s year-to-date numbers, which are up 4.5 percent from the same time last year, are strong despite the October setback.

According to CLE’s statement, the airline load factor, which gauges how full flights are, increased slightly from 77 percent to 80 percent even though passenger volume decreased. This increase in efficiency implies that there were more passengers on the aircraft that did depart from CLE in October than there were in the same month the year before.

Although Spirit Airlines has reduced its operations to just one trip to Fort Lauderdale, according to Cleveland.com, the airport is expected to see 10.25 million passengers this year. Since 2008, when the hub was owned by Continental Airlines, this would be the busiest year for the airport.

CLE plans for the future while anticipating a hectic end-of-year Christmas rush. According to official airport communications, a complete Terminal Modernization Development Program is anticipated to begin in 2025, the year of the airport’s centennial, marking the beginning of a new age of travel for the airport that will last for the next ten years.

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