CLEVELAND, Ohio – Monthly passenger traffic continues to decline at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, due to ongoing airline cutbacks.

Spirit Airlines, which is currently in bankruptcy proceedings, has cut the most – down 88% in seat capacity at Cleveland Hopkins in November compared to a year ago.

United Airlines, the largest carrier at Hopkins, has cut capacity, as well – down 9.7% in November 2024 compared to the same period a year ago.

Bryant Francis, director of port control, said the airport is working to bring back lost flights and seats.

“Select airlines have reduced capacity at CLE, which makes it extremely difficult to maintain passenger levels year over year,” he said in a statement. “We are engaging with airline partners to reverse this recent trend in the New Year.”

Overall, November passenger numbers were down 8.4% over November 2023, according to the airport. The November decline follows a 7.3% drop in passenger traffic in October.

Year-to-date, however, passenger traffic remains up in 2024. Through November, the airport welcomed 9.4 million passengers – up 3.3% over the 9.1 million during the same period a year ago.

Francis said the airport would not meet early projections of 10.25 million passengers in 2024, although it should surpass the 10.04 million passengers the airport served in 2019 — the most since 2008, when Continental Airlines operated a hub in Cleveland.

According to airport data, both Frontier and Delta airlines increased passenger volume at Cleveland Hopkins during November 2024 compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, United, American, Spirit and Air Canada airlines decreased capacity.

Spirit, which used to serve 12 destinations from Cleveland, is down to a single daily flight from Hopkins, to Fort Lauderdale.

Air Canada, meanwhile, cut its lone destination from Cleveland in October, a nonstop route to Toronto. That flight is scheduled to resume in May.

Earlier this month, Aer Lingus announced that it planned to increase its nonstop service between Cleveland and Dublin, Ireland, to five or six days per week, starting in April, up from four days per week now.

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