Old AmrapinVA

Actions speak louder than words. IKEA had a very limited financial investment in the Brooklyn site and bailed before the Army Corps even made a decision because they would have had to invest more. Since that time IKEA built a store on Polaris that is situated to attract Cleveland shoppers. A location much like the one in Pittsburgh. Then they claim there are no good retail locations for a store in the metro. Meanwhile, markets half the size of Cleveland are getting IKEA's. It just feels like they have no respect for the NE Ohio retail market. IKEA built your new Cleveland store, it's in Columbus. Cleveland is so overstaturated with retail that Amazon bought Randall Park yet IKEA can't find a site anywhere to suit their needs? Sounds like they are trying string loyal IKEA shoppers along.

I completely agree Cleveland should have it's own. IKEA clearly has some sort of commitment issue with the area. So when I hear these rumors of IKEA it's a lot of hot air to keep Cleveland people hopeful and sucker them to drive to the "Cleveland" stores in Pittsburgh and now Columbus. IKEA is becoming the ultimate Cleveland "troll". With the growth of Amazon why pave over more land for a big box store that might not exist in a decade. IKEA is already making changes to counter Amazon and feeling the pressure. Maybe, Cleveland will get the last laugh in this charade after all.

IKEA has two Cleveland stores: one is on Polaris Pkwy in Deleware County or you can shop the original Cleveland store in the west suburbs of Pittsburgh. Pretty clear they have no interest in NE Ohio despite all their claims of shopping for a "perfect" spot. Somehow they have managed to find these spots all over the rest of the country.

BLS released their July Jobs and Employment data summaries by state today If the preliminary data holds July 2017 saw the most July jobs in the Cleveland-Elyria region since 2002. This would mark the first month where the area recovered all the job losses from the Great Recession of the late 2000s. Unemployment is still well above the national average at 6.6%. Job growth saw a decent y-o-y increase of 1.3% which was above the state average of 0.9%.

My concern is that this is the Model T vehicle for Tesla. If it really does become popular it will dump a lot more radiation into the environment and will let China control the price point on the vehicle. I don't think there's a fracking miracle for rare earths. Maybe there's a synthetic way around this problem but it looks years down the road, at best. Doesn't feel like we've moved that far away from the problems of the gas powered internal combustion engine.

Article just breezes past this point: PM motors use rare-earth materials that when mined create a wide range of environmental damage. We just don't see it because it's caused halfway around the world in a country that still has quite lax environmental regulations. China has an almost complete monopoly on the materials needed for the PM motor. If the new cheaper Tesla vehicle takes off OPEC just moved to the Gobi Desert. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/rare-earth-mining-china-social-environmental-costs

As for Allegiant, I don't see them becoming very dominant at Cleveland. They've opened up crew/maintenance bases at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. It tells me that any new service will start from those cities and then if they have the aircraft those routes will work their way to Cleveland. I think CLE's primary growth opportunities for the near term are Frontier and Southwest.

Are we doing airport codes again? Cleveland-Honolulu is not happening for all the reasons already stated. United tried daily Dulles-Honolulu two years ago and within six months scaled it back to Saturday only. For the amount of time it takes to fly to Hawaii from the Eastern Time Zone cities you can fly to many Euro cities and then some. Realistically Hopkins staff needs to focus on expanding San Juan, Cancun, Punta Cana, Nassau and Kingston along with adding Aruba. Or maybe a weekender to the Virgin Islands. Dougal, you mean record O&D? I'm sure when Hopkins served 14 million pax back in the late 90s there were well over 1 million passengers using the airport in July. There's no mention of any record in the press release either.

I'm very curious about how these buildings will turn out. Alto is based in Istanbul and they some rather interesting designs from their projects in Kazakhstan. Preserving these buildings is definitely something new for this company. Hopefully they treat this with care.

It's also the type of engine and age of the aircraft as well. Some of the older regional jets are actually louder than the newer 737s and narrowbody Airbuses. The other question is: has there been a recent change in approach patterns to Hopkins? I'll try to the dig them up later to see.

UA continually plays games with it's express carriers, looking for cost efficiencies. They did it with Atlantic Coast Airlines and Air Wisconsin a decade ago. There's no loyalty from UA in it's contract with those smaller carriers. If they can find a cheaper "partner" UA will go to that airline almost every time even it means upending crew and maintenance bases.

Thanks Dougal. I didn't mean to make you work and appreciate the link. I'll check it out later.

Again, in $millions, from FAA CATS data base. Non-passenger revenue .................. CVG ..... CLE Landing fees fm cargo ..................... $8.9 ..... $3.1 Landing fees GA and military ............. 0.0 ..... 2.3 FBO revenues .................................... 0.4 ..... 0.8 Cargo area and hangar rental ........... 2.6 ..... 5.7 Fuel sales and fees ............................0.0 ...... 0.2 Security reimb. from Feds .................. 0.4 ...... 0.6 Other ................................................. 0.2 ...... 0.0 Total .................................................$12.5 .... $12.8 (non-add due to rounding) The difference in bond ratings is because of debt. CVG has long-term debt of $46.5 million vs. CLE's $724.0 million. It should be noted that CLE has paid the debt down from $856 million two years ago, which contributed to S&P upgrading its bond outlook to stable from declining. The did mention debt but said current revenues was the primary driver for the upgrade: http://www.lanereport.com/64154/2016/06/fitch-upgrades-cvgs-revenue-bonds-to-a/ COVINGTON, Ky. (June 8, 2016) — Fitch Ratings has upgraded Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport revenue bonds rating to A+ from an A-, citing “the airport’s measurably improved financial profile on a go-forward basis under its new five-year hybrid compensatory airline use agreement” as the reason for the upgrade. Fitch also pointed out as key rating drivers, CVG’s “continued stabilization of the airport’s origin and destination (O&D) traffic profile, at nearly 85 percent of 3.2 million total enplanements; large scale cargo services from DHL also diversify CVG’s aviation activity; and very low leverage as measured by both the airport traffic base and net cash flow, coupled with reduced debt service obligations.”

Again, in $millions, from FAA CATS data base. Non-passenger revenue .................. CVG ..... CLE Landing fees fm cargo ..................... $8.9 ..... $3.1 Landing fees GA and military ............. 0.0 ..... 2.3 FBO revenues .................................... 0.4 ..... 0.8 Cargo area and hangar rental ........... 2.6 ..... 5.7 Fuel sales and fees ............................0.0 ...... 0.2 Security reimb. from Feds .................. 0.4 ...... 0.6 Other ................................................. 0.2 ...... 0.0 Total .................................................$12.5 .... $12.8 (non-add due to rounding) Ohhh..OK that makes sense.

Dougal can you pull up more than 2016? Can we see a set over five years? I really am curious.

I appreciate your measured response over others but it's really, really not personal. Cleveland and NE Ohio is underserved.

Right, can we keep it on topic. You can PM me. I'm not running away from this and I acknowledge the figures. I just don't think Fitch is going to drop an A+ on an airport generating less revenue than one with a BBB+ unless they know that airport is going to generate much more in the future. Is there a write off or something else?

Thanks for the measured response.

This is obviously your opinion because you wouldn't know a fact if it ran over you!! The bottom line is that Hopkins has done a decent replacing some of the flights it lost because of the hub closure. Hopefully international service will come as the airport continues to rebound. But for you to come on here and trash the airport every chance you get is getting ridiculous!!! Maybe it's getting a little too personal for you. Go find a hobby!!! Is it possible to keep this civil?

I know you and YABO are eager to jump on this all of sudden but there's something here not making sense. A write-off? In 2016, Fitch gave Cincy an upgraded rating of A+. CLE was BBB+. I'm telling you, Cincinnati is generating mondo revenue vs. Cleveland even if those figures don't show it.

Figures in $millions for 2016, taken fron FAA CATS data Source ............ CVG ..... CLE Passenger Rev .. $23.3 ... $81.5 Non-Pass Rev ..... 12.4 ..... 12.8 Non-Aviation Rev . 48.9 .... 48.7 Total Revs. ........... 84.7 ... 143.0 There is no way that Cleveland is generating more cargo, which I'm assuming "non-pass" revenue is, than Cincinnati. The DHL move to Cincinnati alone dwarfs Cleveland and that's not including what's going on with Amazon. Is this including cargo? Something is weird in that picture.

Again, I'm telling you things from the horse's mouth. I'm not a Frequent Flier. The perception within the industry of Hopkins is, at best, below average. Those perceptions effect who serves the airport and how much revenue it generates. Hopkins underperforms because of this and is one of the primary reasons that international airlines avoid it. This isn't opinion, this is fact. Take it for what it's worth.

Cincinnati has non-stop service to Seattle on Delta currently for $341. Plus Frontier just announced service to Seattle starting Spring of 2018 and with Amazon Prime hub happening at CVG, the airport is in talks with Alaska and Southwest for additional service to Pacific Northwest. . CVG is a level above Hopkins, for sure. LOL. Really? Explain to me how CLE is generating more revenue than Cincy. Please, I'd like to know.

Cincinnati has non-stop service to Seattle on Delta currently for $341. Plus Frontier just announced service to Seattle starting Spring of 2018 and with Amazon Prime hub happening at CVG, the airport is in talks with Alaska and Southwest for additional service to Pacific Northwest. Cincinnati's airport generates so much revenue from cargo the two airports aren't even comparable. CVG is a level above Hopkins, for sure.

It's not blown out of proportion. I can tell you first hand, like I've said in the past, Cleveland is behind the eight-ball to get international service. How much service has Cleveland gotten since UA shut down Europe? That's why I get wound up about it, I know no Euro service is coming in the foreseeable future. I'm 95% sure that St. Louis and Indianapolis will see Euro service next. I do hope I'm wrong. Also, I'm more than a frequent flier and I have a ton of contacts in the industry. I advocate for Cleveland even though I'm here in DC and I rarely hear good things about the people running the airport there. Hopkins hit a new low with the recent snow removal fiasco and everyone, I mean everyone, in the industry remembers it including folks outside of the United States. It's not a matter of opinion to say that Hopkins perception is not OK. The city needs to get it's act together on this issue.