Northeast Ohioans were pleased as all rum punch when Frontier, the budget airline set for a major expansion in Cleveland that included a local crewbase in March, announced that it would offer non-stop flights from Cleveland to Jamaica, among 12 other new direct routes.
But one month after takeoffs began from Cleveland Hopkins Airport to Montego Bay, Frontier this week announced that the grand opening would welcome a grand closing come June 29.
“We have been evaluating consumer demand for the Cleveland-Montego Bay service we launched in early March, particularly in light of the current U.S. Travel Advisory involving Jamaica,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the demand has not proven sufficient to continue the route for the full summer season and the last flight will operate on June 29. We will continue to evaluate market conditions going forward.
But while Cleveland suffers from a dearth of non-stop routes — ranking not even among the 50 top airports and offering fewer than 40 total — not every option is going to be a winner.Pre-Covid, Cleveland had 51 direct destinations. A decade ago, that number was 70. In 2023, there were 44,200 total nonstop flights at Hopkins. Ten years ago, that number was 83,000.
“The needs of Clevelanders do come first because that’s what’s going to fill up an airplane,” John Hogan, Hopkins' air service development manager, toldearlier this year. “What is the demand for certain destinations? And we put the two together and hopefully the airline will say, ‘Hey let’s take a chance on this and go for it.”Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.
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