For a variety of reasons I will be traveling (again) into and out of CLE mostly from SFO. Last week I spoke with a FA who said UA will be increasing flights into and out of CLE. While he said it will not be classified as a hub or "mini hub" UA employees can now originate or work directly out of CLE. I assume this was in part done to make it easier on the many employees still there since the merger with CO and when it was a mini hub for UA. Anybody have any more news on this locally?

All I heard is they are going to 3X/day (at least on some days) to LAX. Don't know about SFO increases which are generally 2X/day.

they probably looked back and realized they were actually making money in Cleveland and now that they don't have a RJ pilot shortage they can fly more there...

UA pays $1,112,482 a month in rent for mothballed Concourse D. CLE will be happy to reopen it for UA connections as other hubs fill up

UA, nee CO, flew CLE-LAX for as long as I can remember. Peak was 4X/day.

Um. Not even close if you are counting pre-merger CO+UA.

Indeed. I used to be able to take CO mainline CLE-BOS (and sit in First sometimes for cheaper than coach) which was offered at least once a day until the drawdown, when it went all ERJ. That ended in March, and now DL has picked up the route, with JetBlue still flying it. Mainline CO flew to LAS and PHX year-round once upon a time and seasonally to places like MIA, SAN, etc. It is nowhere close to pre-merger levels. That said, it's better than most spoke cities. In the recent announcement of expansion of Florida flying, United did list flights to Florida from "United hubs" and the flights from CLE to Florida were on the list--probably because CLE is the only non-hub with nonstops to Florida so it sneaked in there.

I personally will take whatever they will offer; the CO staff at CLE are good folks and I miss a lot of them. More flights would be a good thing.

What?! Over a million and yes it sits empty. Did not realize that, I thought they were out of that lease.... Wow. Well that in itself would explain why there seems to be more interest in getting flights into and out of CLE.

Not quite as exciting as the possibility of adding new flights but UA is testing new gate features at CLE:

http://www.united.com/gateinnovation

They're on the hook for that monthly payment for another 8 years.

I had heard about that but thought by now the lease had run its course. Well yeah, I guess UA should find some use for all that space. I had heard that even thought they are getting paid for the lease the city obviously would prefer the gates be used. More landing taxes, tourism, etc..... They (the city/airport) kind of got burned on that deal when UA pulled CLE as a hub. Not to mention all the employees there that had to then "commute " to hubs such as ORD to work. Well at least this new move is suppose to help that. I was told there are still approximately 60 FAs based out of CLE.

I don't believe there are any plans to use the vacant D concourse so I can't imagine that's factoring into this at all. Along with FAs, CLE is also a pilot and maintenance base (737s) for UA.