Full Extension Not An 'Immediate Priority'

Officials in Cleveland, OH have decided to downsize plans for a runway expansion at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport that was, at one time, deemed critical in CLE's attempt to compete on a global level with additional nonstop international flights.

Airport director Ricky Smith said the move was due to high costs and a lack of scheduled nonstop flights so full extension is not an immediate priority, according to The Associated Press.

"We don't need a runway at 11,250 feet unless we're going to have service to the Pacific Rim, Asia," Smith said. "At this point, we don't have any service to the Pacific Rim."

The original plan included one of two 9,000-foot runways to be lengthened to 11,250 feet to accommodate 747s and 757s on nonstop flights to Asia and was estimated to cost $54 million. The city rejected two bids of $78 million or more.

The pared-down plan provides for an extension to 10,000 feet. An intersection with a nearby smaller runway will also be removed. This $41 million project will not accommodate additional international flights, Smith said.

Continental Airlines officials initially approved the full extension and agreed with the change. The carrier currently offers seasonal nonstop flights to London Gatwick and plans to add nonstop flights to Paris next year.

"We support the city's direction 100 percent," Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark said Friday. "We were really consulted all along the way."

According to Cleveland's The Plain Dealer, the airport's 1999 master plan anticipated demand for international flights and recommended extending one runway to 11,250 feet.

CLE has spent millions of dollars in planning for and defending this project. The airport has even had to battle a lawsuit from suburban neighbor Olmsted Falls, which objected to channeling a creek through pipes that run under the path of the proposed extension, according to the newspaper.

The city is out some money, too. It paid a consultant $2.9 million to design the extension in 2004.

Todd Payne, director of marketing and air-service development at CLE, said improved technology might allow for jets to take off for Asia from shorter runways some days.

"Eventually, it might not be necessary to have super-long runways," Payne said.

FMI: www.clevelandairport.com/