CLE Serves Over 10 Million Annual Passengers
January 28, 2025
Press Releases
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) welcomed 806,104 passengers in the month of December, a .55 percent increase over 2023. In 2024 activity rose to 10,173,861 passengers, up 3 percent versus 2023. This total achieved 99.3 percent of CLE’s 2024 forecast of 10,250,000 passengers.
CLE has not enjoyed a 10 million passenger year since 2019, just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. June was CLE’s busiest month in 2024 with 987,508 passengers. The last month in which passenger levels were comparable was August of 2008.
There were several factors that led to the airport not making its annual forecast, including two hurricanes and an IT outage that affected flights nationwide. Airline factors that also played a role include Spirit Airlines 66 percent reduction in seats in the Cleveland market.
“Although we fell a bit short of our initial forecast, 2024 was a busy year and we fared very well overall,” said Bryant L. Francis, C.M., Director of Port Control. “Our business development efforts to increase flights and seats will continue in 2025, with several unserved routes being of primary focus.”
The standout in 2024 was Frontier Airlines, which established a CLE Crew Base last spring, leading to a more than 32 percent increase in passenger activity. An early Christmas gift was Aer Lingus announcing its Dublin frequency will increase to as many as 6-weekly this year.
Leading airlines in 2024 capacity include United Airlines with 3,087,340 seats followed by Frontier with 2,925,724 seats and American Airlines with 2,314,799 seats.
This year, CLE is forecasting 10,400,000 passengers.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Northeast Ohio’s Gateway to the World. Ohio’s busiest airport serves 10,000,000 passengers annually. Eleven passenger airlines offer over 120 daily departures to 47 nonstop destinations, 42 domestic and 5 international. There are also four all-cargo airlines serving CLE.
The upcoming multi-phase CLE Terminal Modernization Development Program will elevate the passenger travel experience through an extensive transformation of its terminal and related facilities. The program is anticipated to begin in 2025, the Airport’s 100th Anniversary, and extend into the next decade.