CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the first time in many years, United Airlines is not the top carrier at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Frontier Airlines, which added a dozen new routes from CLE in recent months, served more passengers in June than United, according to the airport.The airport welcomed just under 1 million passengers last month and is on track to have its busiest year since 2008.
Frontier served 221,434 of those travelers, while United served 217,898.American Airlines was the third largest carrier in June, with 181,340 passengers.
It’s the first time in at least two decades that neither United nor Continental, which merged with United in 2010, was the top carrier at Cleveland Hopkins by passenger volume.
Cleveland Hopkins was a long-time hub for United Airlines until 2014, and a hub for Continental before that.
In a statement, airport director Bryant Francis said Hopkins has been experiencing peak summer travel volume in recent weeks.
“TSA has been screening record numbers of travelers nationwide, and we are experiencing peak activity in Cleveland as well,” he said. “We are also seeing a shift in airline market share, which directly relates to revenue passengers served, with Frontier Airlines taking the top spot for the first time during the month.”
Frontier’s position as the No. 1 carrier in Cleveland may not last, however. The carrier plans to significantly reduce its flying to and from Hopkins in September, as the summer travel season wanes.Several new nonstop destinations will be eliminated in early September, according to the carrier, including Charleston and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Pensacola and Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia and New Orleans.
“These routes are seasonal, and are ending with the conclusion of the summer travel season,” according to a statement from Frontier. “A decision on resuming service to these destinations next summer will be made at a later date, based on market demand.”
Earlier this year, Frontier opened a new crew base in Cleveland, with 450 pilots, flight attendants and maintenance workers stationed at Hopkins.
At the same time, the carrier, based in Denver, launched a major expansion in Cleveland, with flights to a dozen new cities, including Austin, Salt Lake City, New York City and numerous others.
Those new routes are clearly increasing passenger volume at the airport.
The airport Monday released June passenger numbers, which came in at 987,508 – nearly 7% higher than a year ago and 2.4% more than June 2019, before the COVID pandemic upended air travel.Year-to-date, 5,016,756 passengers have traveled through Hopkins from January through June 2024, up more than 8% over the same period in 2023 and nearly 3% more than 2019.
If the pace continues, the airport will easily exceed the 10.04 million passengers of 2019, and tally the most since 2008, when Hopkins was still a hub for Continental Airlines.Frontier overtakes United as top airline at Cleveland Hopkins airport