Future Hopkins plan displayed, discussed

CLEVELAND - The future of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport was on display Wednesday evening.

A workshop for public comment on its master plan was held in the airport's lower level. A couple of dozen easels showed different scenarios of what would make the airport a better facility over the next couple of decades.

Prominent in the plans were ten different alternatives to enhance the current concourses. The C concourse would receive a needed widening and would permit the addition of moving walkways.

Among other possible changes:

• A bridge to allow direct access to D concourse from the ticketing lobby, currently the concourse is only accessible through C concourse.
• A relocation of the airport hotel, moving it closer to the terminal.
• A change in ground transportation routes and parking.
• Moving baggage scanners from the ticketing lobby to free up lobby space.

"It's a whole host of scenarios they're looking at," said airport spokesperson Jackie Mayo. "I believe they have presented here about 14 in different ways. It may be what happens is in the end you take and pick, we need this and this and this together and create the master plan."

The wild card in the future of Hopkins is the recent Continental/United merger.

"We have quite a bit of time on that agreement, so it does have an effect," Mayo said.

The future passenger aircraft mix is expected to remain nearly the same for the next five years. Wide body aircraft and small turbo prop aircraft are expected to make up only about 1 percent of the fleet using the airport, while narrow body aircraft comprised of 737s are expected to remain at about the same 25 percent level.

The remaining 74 percent share of passenger aircraft using Hopkins is split between the 50 or 70 seat regional jets.

The master plan is expected to be finished in January, with the FAA taking approximately two years to approve it.

Mayo said money for the projects come from a variety of sources.

"Luckily for us, we're a self-sustaining airport. We have different ways of paying for different things, a variety of funding sources, but it doesn't come out of the taxpayer, not out of the general fund of the city of Cleveland," Mayo said.