I'm just not getting the "CAK is more convenient for a lot of flyers" line of reasoning. Obviously for residents of Akron and Canton, yes, it's a lot closer. But for any town that could be even remotely considered a Cleveland suburb, CLE is much closer. Even for a town as far south as Hudson, the distance to CLE is about the same as to CAK.

There are still some major businesses left in the Cleveland area, and I'm not seeing business travelers driving an extra 45 minutes each way to fly out of CAK.

CLE is a whopping 11 miles from downtown, all on highway. In addition to being west of the city, CLE is also south, so the "southern migration" of the population into the suburbs brings it closer to CLE. It's much easier to get to CLE than CAK from any point in Cuyahoga County

CAK is definitely easy to navigate, but it's not like CLE is difficult. By any measure except current level of competition, CLE is a much more attractive market for an airline than CAK, so it would make lots of sense for Airtran to move its operations to CLE if CO cuts its service significantly.