LETTERBOY

If they thought it would make money, they probably would.

RobS

CLE-PWM will restart in May. It has been operated seasonally for several summers.

For CLE-Europe, Lufthansa is unlikely, unless UA forcefed the flight. LH's smallest capable plane is an A330-300, way to big for the route. CLE's only hope is for UA to discover a 763 they don't know what to do with.

Or ... if CLE offered a guarantee (as PIT initially gave DL), I wonder if they could get AA to fly CLE-LHR with a 757. (AA does BOS-LHR with a 757.) If you add in all the alliance connections possible in LHR, it might work.

ctownflyer

There's not enough O/D pax to support a 757 without a good amount of connecting passengers which AA won't have. Let alone enough O/D traffic that isn't loyal to UA.

Anyway why would CLE want to pick a fight with UA by subsidizing service on another airline?

jlemon

Indeed.....I really don't think AA is in the cards with regard to a possible TATL route from CLE.

LarkSFO

Look what that got Houston...

entropy

I doubt UA is going to do anything dramatic with CLE at this point, either way.

they're generally holding capacity constant systemwide or reducing a bit. The local economy is relatively strong these days, both historically and relative to the country as a whole.

Its in UA's interest to have a hub as long as its profitable on a marginal basis. Despite the constant flak that CLE gets, the fact of the matter is that if you look at the metrics that determine whether a hub is profitable or not, CLE has one of the highest percentages of O/D traffic in the system (far higher than IAH), the yield out of CLE is also higher, however that's due in large part to the high % of shorthaul RJ flights. What CLE doesn't seem to support are intercontinental flights, which require by definition, a large gauge aircraft and steady front-cabin demand, its much easier and lower risk for them to schelp passengers to EWR/ORD, where they have a wide selection of EU destinations rather than picking LHR or FRA and trying to fill it on a mostly-O/D basis.

mherdeg

There's a Subway and a Hudson News Euro Café landside according to http://www.clevelandairport.com/Airp...iday-2012.aspx .

I somehow didn't notice that they got rid of the landside Dunkin Donuts. I guess I was just too excited to see that there's no more "NO HOT FOOD PAST SECURITY" sign as you exit the secure airside area. (The Subway was OK, but the sandwich artist seemed kind of unhappy to be there.)

haddon90

i guess what i can do is grab the sbux when i land and take it outside security. did not really think about that.

greathustle

As long as they keep the redeye from SFO...

buckeyefanflyer

To answer the question Why do you need CLE, well as the NY Times story reports United has the worst operational record, getting rid of CLE will not help this, it will make this worse. Airlines need multiple hubs in order to maintain good operations.

mike1968

It was actually most of the 1990s they had a DC-10. I checked my flight memory. Last UA DC-10[-30] I have was 1999 on ORD-CLE and they used to serve a sandwich in F The 5pm DC-10 CLE-ORD was almost always full and man could those UA CLE folks turn that thing. Most of the 1990s there were multiple DC-10s daily + 727s on ORD-CLE. In general, UA used the DC-10 on short turns from chicago (DET, CLE, YYZ, PIT) in order to get them to/from the west coast and keep them full and making money. I remember being sad when they retired them and they did run a 767 for awhile afterward on ORD-CLE. After 9/11 it was mostly 737s (until retired); Airbus or 757s. Of course now-hub-to-hub- it's almost entirely not even mainline.

Haven't gone to CLE in a long time, but if they are going to run wide-bodies there; hopefully they kept the great UA ground crew, as those folks could hustle with a smile...some of the best in the pmUA system!

RNE

I have to go on a daytrip from CLE to MSN in late January. UA has a nonstop I'd like to take but the fare is $1,263. (Same price for itineraries that connect.)

DL out of CAK is $293. It connects at DTW, but it's nearly $1000 less!

RNE, suggesting you Clevelanders should care more about that than I do.

bajrbajr

fares CLE-LAS, CLE-PHX & CLE-LAX are about as low as I have seen them in 3 years. It's only flights with connections... NS flights are still very expensive.

BTW... I have been unhappy with fares from CLE over the past 2-3 years... I've made a majority of my trips from PIT, CMH, and CAK.

mduell

Yes, airlines that can't compete with a nonstop have to offer much cheaper fares for one stops. This is true in a broad variety of markets.

TAHKUCT

Good example my ticket CLE-LAX for $183 in January. That is the lowest fare I have seen in ages.