http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/09/burke_lakefront_airport_gets_s.html#incart_m-rpt-1

 

Edit:  Clevecom catching up to here.

So is Cincy Biz Journal....

 

Ultimate Air adds another destination from Lunken Airport

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/morning_call/2015/09/ultimate-air-adds-another-destination-from-lunken.html?ana=twt

Ultimate Air says they will add either Chicago or Morristown NJ from BKL in 2016. Their BKL-Cincinnati flight is doing well.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2015/12/ultimate_air_shuttle_plans_new.html

A recent Crains article states Ultimate Air has chosen "New York" (actually Morristown, NJ) over Chicago, though I haven't seen any official announcement from the airline and its website doesn't say anything.  The article says:

 

"Ultimate Air Shuttle intends to expand its ticketed public charter services from Burke as early as this spring, starting with nonstop flights to New York City."

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20160124/NEWS/160129924/is-there-a-better-way-to-get-to-nyc

 

 

I don't know if this is on the Geis property or not.

 

http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2015/01092015/index.php

 

And a FYI for everyone, Landmark was recently sold to it's competitor.  Will soon rebrand to Signature Aviation.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/business/dealbook/bba-aviation-to-buy-landmark-aviation-for-2-1-billion.html?_r=0

^I looked at a few sample cities--LA, Detroit, SF, Chicago, NYC, Washington.  No overlaps in any of them except in NY--both HPN and TEB--and in Washington--IAD--have both Signature and Landmark operations. So its bad for those airports (less competition). Likely no impact to BKL, though may make it harder for a second FBO to come in operate, especially as a big one (Signature) just bought a smaller one (Landmark). Burke used to have two FBOs operating there simultaneously.

Just for reference regarding the footprint for possible development at BKL

what's the status of the project at BKL for office bldgs?

what's the status of the project at BKL for office bldgs?

 

In search of tenants to justify construction.

^so the project is feasible technically? I heard someone was doing boring or some kind of geotechnical tests, but that was like a year ago or so. never heard about any findings about those tests.

I was driving by Burke this morning and there is a city crew installing a "pen" of chain link fencing in the parking lot.    Anyone know what this is about?

RNC protestor housing I'm sure.

After a lean couple of winter months, Burke's only commercial carrier, Ultimate Shuttle (flying twice on weekdays from Burke to Cincinnati's Lunken Airport), did much better in April achieving a 70% load factor, up from 39% in March. Source: USDoT data released today.

^Thats good to hear. They delayed service to NJ cause of the light loads over winter.  Do you have a DOT link?

DoT link:  http://www.transtats.bts.gov/Data_Elements.aspx?Data=1  Note that Ultimate is not listed as the carrier, but Burke has only one, so I'm using the whole airport's data as a proxy for Ultimate.

 

I understand Ultimate is having trouble with their online reservation implementation. Once they get that in hand, expansion becomes more likely. 

 

I know the future of Burke is a hot issue, but I'd like to see the use of Burke grow. There are more than a couple of alternatives for waterfront development elsewhere but no alternative for a downtown airport.

^^ I applaud all Burke supporters.    Until there are developers lined up with shovel ready offers to build 450 acres of apartments, condos and shopping on old fill dirt,  this is something we have that other metros do not.  A downtown airport can be a great economic development engine.  In the meantime there is all that unused parking and greenspace on the Marginal side of the field where a future development can take root.

I know the future of Burke is a hot issue, but I'd like to see the use of Burke grow. There are more than a couple of alternatives for waterfront development elsewhere but no alternative for a downtown airport.

 

Exactly.  It makes no sense to tear down such an asset to clear up lakefront space when we literally have public housing in at least two lakefront locations within Cleveland city limits alone.  We don't do a good job of utilizing the lake except perhaps as a transportation resource, but this isn't the place to start.

It was postedd in an aviation forum that Ultimate Shuttle will add flights from Burke to New York (actually Morristown, NJ) and Chicago in the spring of 2017.  Source of the story was Ultimate reps present at the Burke Air Expo last week.

Cool. which airport in Chicago will they use?

I flew Ultimate Air Shuttle on Sept. 9 to attend the grand opening of the Cincinnati Streetcar. It was one of the most enjoyable flights I've had in a long time. My drive from Lakewood to Burke during rush hour took 25 minutes, or more than half as long as the 45-minute flight to Cincinnati did!

 

While heading east on North Marginal Road, I saw a business traveler dragging a suitcase from the Waterfront Line light-rail station at East 9th to Burke. It's really not a long walk (at least in September). Here I caught my flight to Cincinnati Lunken on Ultimate Air Shuttle, which is considered a charter flight. So no TSA security check. I got to the airport waiting area with 30 minutes to spare.

 

 

 

 

A dozen people got off the flight from Cincinnati. The 32-seat jet was turned around and 9 people got on for Cincinnati. All appeared to be business travelers. It is the only nonstop flight Cleveland-Cincinnati.

 

 

 

 

Our plane climbed VERY quickly. By the time we were over my community of Lakewood (at the Rocky River, about 10 miles west of downtown), this was the view...

 

 

 

 

45 minutes and 250 miles later, we're descending into cloudy/rainy Cincinnati Lunken....

 

 

 

A shuttle van provided by Ultimate Air at no extra cost took a few of us into downtown Cincinnati, with the lone stop at the Cincinnatian Hotel. It's where I picked up the return shuttle at 4:30 p.m. to Lunken with the flight departing Cincy at 5:15 p.m. (IIRC)...

 

 

More pictures at:

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,30874.0.html

looks like they use MDW in Chicago.

 

KJP--great review/photos of your BKL-LUK experience--thanks.

looks like they use MDW in Chicago.

 

KJP--great review/photos of your BKL-LUK experience--thanks.

 

Currently yes, but they have talked of using Chicago Executive Airport, which is just wrapping up some major runway work. Executive is 18 miles NW of the Loop in the heart of suburban office land.

Susan Glaser in Cleveland.com confirms the Ultimate expansion at Burke for next year.  It appears now that Ultimate will fly to Midway rather than to Chicago Executive. I can understand why the company is being selective about aircraft acquisition. Since both of their aircraft models are relatively fuel-inefficient, they need to keep the acquisition price low against the day when operating costs (kerosene prices) rise again.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2016/10/ultimate_air_shuttle_plans_to.html#incart_m-rpt-1

 

 

In the world of small victories, Burke has grown from the 651st largest US commercial airport to the 398th largest, based on boardings (August over August comparison). And they had commercial service for only 10 months of the year.  8-)

 

Ultimate Shuttle has been averaging about 1,250 passengers a month on their single route to Cincinnati; it has surpassed Cincinnati-Chicago and is now the largest route in Ultimate's system. 

^that's good news and will help convince ultimate to expand at BKL. Where can one find that list of largest commercial airports?

Where can one find that list of largest commercial airports?

 

I got it from the Bureau if Transportation Statistics "Airport Snapshot" page - which doesn't seem to be working at the moment.  It's not a ranked list of airports, but does give the ranking if you check an individual airport. The link is:

 

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp

 

Edit:  The site is working now but V...E...R...Y slowly.

 

Ultimate Air Shuttle will be starting 3x weekly service to MMU from BKL on January 17.

Ultimate Air Shuttle will be starting 3x weekly service to MMU from BKL on January 17.

 

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2016/12/ultimate_air_shuttle_to_launch.html

^That schedule forces an overnight for both CLE folks and NY'ers---not the best business schedule. Will be tough to compete against the majors into LGA and EWR where you can fly in and out the same day to either city. Best of luck to them, but its not a real test without at least 2x daily per direction.

^That schedule forces an overnight for both CLE folks and NY'ers---not the best business schedule. Will be tough to compete against the majors into LGA and EWR where you can fly in and out the same day to either city. Best of luck to them, but its not a real test without at least 2x daily per direction.

 

I thought the same--even if the fare is more the corporate expense accounts could justify the higher "luxury" fare and added ground transport into Manhattan--with no hotel room.    They must have done their homework, so wishing the best for this flight!

^That schedule forces an overnight for both CLE folks and NY'ers---not the best business schedule.

... They must have done their homework, so wishing the best for this flight!

 

I agree; the schedule is a head-scratcher. Ultimate has also done some odd scheduling in Cincy and it seems to work for them. They appear to know their customers well and don't schedule with a dart board. I'm really encouraged that they're 1) doing it at all and 2) starting the flight at the time of year when traffic as at its lowest. They must have customers clamoring for the service (I hope!).

Nice words about BKL in Ultimate's inflight magazine, including a new route BKL-LUK-PDK in the spring.  PDK is Atlanta's Peachtree Airport, about as far northeast of downtown as the big airport is southwest, minus the traffic and the crowds.

 

http://ultimateairshuttle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Ultimate_JAN2017_WEB.pdf  Pages 8-10

BKL to Atlanta (PDK) service (with a stop at Cincinnati Lunken) is now official and begins 3/20.

^ BKL-LUK which quickly became Ultimate's busiest route, is a good spine to build on. I'm expecting BKL-MMU to become LUK-BKL-MMU at some point. Their profitability depends on cheap fuel, however; who knows how long that will last?

^ BKL-LUK which quickly became Ultimate's busiest route, is a good spine to build on. I'm expecting BKL-MMU to become LUK-BKL-MMU at some point. Their profitability depends on cheap fuel, however; who knows how long that will last?

 

Are they hedging fuel?  Hopefully they have some cash to buy now.

 

DoT's latest data release shows Ultimate's BKL-LUK route has grown to 1,598 passengers with a 66.9% load factor in November (typically a weak month at CLE). 

Ultimate just added a Burke to Peachtree-Atlanta route.

^announced, but didn't begin yet. supposed to start on 3/20/17.  Morristown, NJ service from BKL was supposed to start in January, I believe, but as far as I know, it didn't.

^announced, but didn't begin yet. supposed to start on 3/20/17.  Morristown, NJ service from BKL was supposed to start in January, I believe, but as far as I know, it didn't.

 

Morristown started but apparently didn't succeed, the schedule was not great for business travel. Last operation was 2/22/17.

^I thought they were a smart company, but not sure why they thought "NYC" 3x/week and all trips requiring an overnight stay on both sides would be a sellable thing. ANYONE would pay $100 more and fly into LGA and be able to fly in and out the same day---that's what they were competing against.  I'd love to see BKL-LGA---but it must be done right to be enough of a market differentiator if they're trying to take from UA/DL/AA--and maintain schedule flexibility for the passenger.

^I thought they were a smart company, but not sure why they thought "NYC" 3x/week and all trips requiring an overnight stay on both sides would be a sellable thing.

 

I agree the 3x/bad schedule thing was a mistake. Still, LUK-MMU runs with 70% loads. With better timing, I think BKL-LUK could work. Better timing, however means Ultimate leaves  their planes on the ground for the middle of the day, flying only a few hours unless they can pick up a mid-day charter.  I guess that's why they're growing slowly; they have to find really cheap planes to afford the low utilization - and while fuel is relatively cheap, the prices of their preferred aircraft have risen. 

 

 

^I thought they were a smart company, but not sure why they thought "NYC" 3x/week and all trips requiring an overnight stay on both sides would be a sellable thing.

 

I agree the 3x/bad schedule thing was a mistake. Still, LUK-MMU runs with 70% loads. With better timing, I think BKL-LUK could work. Better timing, however means Ultimate leaves  their planes on the ground for the middle of the day, flying only a few hours unless they can pick up a mid-day charter.  I guess that's why they're growing slowly; they have to find really cheap planes to afford the low utilization - and while fuel is relatively cheap, the prices of their preferred aircraft have risen. 

 

 

 

I'm surprised they aren't using prop aircraft, especially on a short route like BKL-LUK.  With a similar luxurious seating configuration I don't think many would complain.  Porter has had huge success up in Canada with their entire fleet of Q400's including on their international routes to NYC and Boston. 

More good news for Burke. Final numbers are in for 2016 and BKL passengers were 16,418. To put this into some kind of context, that is a bigger number than most airports in the federal Essential Air Service subsidy program.

 

Ultimate Shuttle's load factor for the year was 55.5%, although traffic built through the year. Sept-Dec all had loads over 60%.

^Excellent. That makes Burke the 382nd biggest airport for passenger departures in the US. Hopkins ranks 45th....(was around 36th/38th with the CO hub).

January '17 traffic at Burke was up 51% over the prior year.  I know we're dealing with tiny numbers, but it's still interesting.  Raw numbers of passengers: 647 this year vs 428 last. It's not clear how much of this was Morristown flights, but Ultimate operated only 4 more flights this January than last; so most of the growth is real.

January '17 traffic at Burke was up 51% over the prior year.  I know we're dealing with tiny numbers, but it's still interesting.  Raw numbers of passengers: 647 this year vs 428 last. It's not clear how much of this was Morristown flights, but Ultimate operated only 4 more flights this January than last; so most of the growth is real.

 

Just a visual note, in driving by on the Shoreway I've seen a LOT more private turbine and even small GA piston aircraft parked on the new Signature ramp.  I wonder with the new building if Signature isn't upping their aircraft services out of this location. 

Was downtown on Thursday having dinner at Nuevo and then playing with my son at crowded Voinovich Park afterwards. Every month or so we shoot off rocket copters there and this time there seemed to be a lot more planes landing than I can recall. Is there a website that publicly reports general aviation flight operations at Burke? And does anyone know how Ultimate Air is doing?

Was downtown on Thursday having dinner at Nuevo and then playing with my son at crowded Voinovich Park afterwards. Every month or so we shoot off rocket copters there and this time there seemed to be a lot more planes landing than I can recall. Is there a website that publicly reports general aviation flight operations at Burke? And does anyone know how Ultimate Air is doing?

 

Does this help?

 

https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KBKL

County (KCGF) was closed for the summer, which definitely increased operations at Burke.  I believe it has just reopened.

 

Does this help?

 

https://flightaware.com/live/airport/KBKL

 

It would if the historical data was free, which it should be coming from a publicly owned airport. So who's the non-profit informational resource from which this information is derived?