WHERE BUSINESS GOES TO GROW
BUSINESS IS BACK
& Taking Off Local leaders and JobsOhio bring new routes to Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.
W
hen Alaska Airlines completes its first daily, nonstop flight connecting Cleveland and Seattle on June 16, 2022, it will mark the airline’s 100th destination. The flight better be on time, because the airline will be serving Miami for the first time in a similar way about two hours later. If Cleveland is the 100th, it would be kind of nice. But, it’s not just about bragging rights. Alaska Airlines’ economic impact on Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport is projected to be $30 million. It is the country’s fifth largest airline based on passenger traffic. “And it’s not just the flight,” says Robert Kennedy, director of Port Control for the city of Cleveland Port Control. “This opens up greater opportunities for people in Seattle to do business here and for people here to do business
in Seattle and points beyond. That happens every time you open a new air route.” Brett Catlin, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of network and alliances, notes that the airline had been looking at Cleveland for almost six years. The city “was a hole in our network and one we wanted to fill, but the timing and environment was never quite right,” Catlin says. “When you open a new station like Cleveland, there are significant startup costs. And, there is also the risk of not knowing if the market is going to work. We don’t want to open and then close a year later,” says Catlin, adding that the nonstop service also opens service to a number of destinations in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. “We take our destinations very seriously. We understand the power that air service has and
BY JILL SELL
what it means to a city like Cleveland. We want to be sure we will be there for the long haul.” Having a nonstop air link matters to companies thinking about expansion, and in Cleveland, that also means sharing its IT, health and manufacturing assets with new markets. It’s also important to families who find it easier to travel to see loved ones, Catlin says. “Seattle was our No. 1 underserved market,” says Kennedy, adding that
Brett Catlin
Robert Kennedy
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