Cleveland Hopkins Airport Operations Lauded by FAA in Annual Report
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Seven years ago, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was hit with the largest fine in FAA history for a series of failures involving snow and ice removal during the previous three winters.
This year, for the second year in a row, the airport received a report with no required or recommended changes from the Federal Aviation Administration, based on the agency’s recent annual inspection.
Normally, an airport’s clean FAA inspection report might not be considered news. But in Cleveland, airport officials believe that it is.
“It’s a home run,” said outgoing airport director Robert Kennedy, who is retiring next week after just over five years on the job. “A lot of people have put in a lot of work to get here. We’ve come a long way since 2016 – a long way.”
Dennis Kramer, chief of planning and engineering for the airport, credited Kennedy for driving much of the change in the operational practices at the airport, on everything from record-keeping to training to information technology.
“This is the second year in a row that the FAA found no discrepancies,” said Kramer, who will serve as interim director while the city conducts a national search for Kennedy’s replacement. “That’s a good thing. It means we’re doing everything we should be doing.”
In a July 1 letter to the airport, FAA inspector Gordon S. Howard wrote: “We commend you for the procedures you are using in the day-to-day operation of the airport. The appearance of the airport indicates they are effective.”
The FAA hasn’t always been so complimentary.
In late 2015, the agency levied a $735,000 fine against the airport for a series of incidents in 2013, 2014 and 2015 during which the airport failed to follow mandated snow and ice control procedures. At the time, the fine was the largest ever imposed on an airport by the agency.
The fine was later reduced to $200,000, which the city-owned airport paid off last year.
“We’ve been working to institutionalize certain standards and recommended practices,” Kennedy said. “It’s great when the FAA says they can see the difference.”
A spokeswoman for the FAA said the agency completes inspections at 518 commercial airports in the United States every year. She said the agency does not track how many reports have no discrepancies or recommendations for improvement.
Read more:
Cleveland Hopkins director Robert Kennedy announces retirement, guided airport through COVID crisis
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