Originally Posted by
guy44134
CLE posted 8.5% growth in 2017, totaling 9.14 million passengers, the most since 2011. Director Kennedy is predicting 9.5 pax in 2018. Interestingly enough, UA was the only carrier to reduce available seats in the market last year.
Yeah, there are jam-packed flights to a handful of cherry-picked destinations. Big deal. Raw passenger count doesn't ameliorate the abysmal lack of nonstop service to CO/UA's yesteryear destinations, particularly for business travelers.
Case in point. TSMRSRNE is going on a business trip to a tiny, out-of-the-way, obscure city called Baltimore. Only WN offers nonstop service to BWI from CLE. Problem is WN's only end-of-business-day return leaves at a too-early 4:55 p.m. So, she's taking DL back via ATL and not getting home until midnight. Yeah, I know, boo-hoo. But still, back in CO/UA hub days, non-stop both ways wouldn't have been a problem.
Don't let passenger count fool you that CLE is "coming back." It's not.
RNE, suggesting the director stop patting himself on the back.