Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Faces 2021 Challenges, Even as Hopes for Coronavirus Vaccine Buoy Airline Industry

Nov. 11—CLEVELAND, Ohio — While a vaccine for COVID-19 coronavirus could help bring back the airline industry, Cleveland Hopkins International still will face serious challenges in 2021, Cleveland's airport chief, Robert Kennedy, told a City Council panel Wednesday.

Airline stocks soared this week on the news that a vaccine could be in distribution by spring. But those airlines already have lost billions of dollars from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and those airlines pay nearly half the bills at Hopkins.

"We all thought 2020 was a challenging year ... but 2021 will be challenging as well," Kennedy said. "Adding to our challenges, there are a couple of financial issues facing us."

Those issues are:

City Council's Transportation Committee approved legislation that would allow the airport to extend its contract with a financial consultant to help with either of those issues.

That legislation could go to the full council next Wednesday.

The lease agreement lays out the terms under which the airlines operate at Hopkins. Presently, the airport raises as much money as possible through concessions, leases and parking, but the airlines are contractually obligated to pick up all remaining costs.

The airport covered about 54% of the total costs in 2019. But the airlines have still contributed more than $90 million a year toward operations.

If the deal expires, all terms — rates and charges, lease areas, revenues — would be reopened for negotiation, Kennedy said.

"Right now, we don't know if they're going to ask for renegotiation," Kennedy said. "For us, we're keeping our cards close to the chest."

If the airlines are willing to extend the agreement, those negotiations probably need to be started by spring. But that could be tricky given the uncertainty of the industry and the state of the coronavirus, Kennedy said.

"It will be played almost day to day," he said. "A decision would have to come probably by spring of next year by the carriers. Right now, they're keeping their desires close to the chest, as well."

Big things had been predicted for Hopkins this year. Traffic through the airport had been growing for several years and was expected to top 2019′s level of more than 10 million.

When the pandemic hit, passenger numbers crashed. In August, the airport celebrated that some recovery had been seen in July. Kennedy has estimated it could be several years before passenger numbers return to their previous heights.

"Our passenger levels have returned to about 40% of where we were last year," Kennedy said. While that might not seem like much, investment by airlines in Cleveland has been ahead of the investment in flights they've made at other similar airports, he said.

Hopkins got about $46 million in federal coronavirus relief earlier this year, money that was used to help maintain payrolls and cover debt services. More aid may be in the offing.

The news about a possible vaccine is a cause for optimism, Kennedy said. But the industry will remain challenged.

"We will emerge out of this. I'm more hopeful today than I was 10 days ago," Kennedy said.

More from Cleveland City Hall

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