Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport is a public airport on the shore of Lake Erie, in downtown Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It is a general aviation airport and an FAA designated reliever to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Greater Cleveland's main airport. FAA data says Burke Lakefront was the fourth busiest airport in the state in 2008 (after, in order, Cleveland Hopkins, Port Columbus International and Akron-Canton, up from 7th in 2007. It is named after former Cleveland mayor and U.S. senator Thomas A. Burke.

The airport is owned and operated by the city of Cleveland, which also operates Hopkins. It serves a growing number of corporate jets and air taxi services. Burke had 20,618 air taxi operations in 2005 and 23,370 in 2006. BKL had 18,595 air taxi operations in the first ten months of 2007. Burke Lakefront handles about 87,000 operations per year (average 2000 to 2006). (60,013 for the first ten months of 2007). The airport is frequently used by NFL, MLB and NBA team charter flights to Cleveland Browns Stadium, Progressive Field (Cleveland Indians) and Quicken Loans Arena (Cleveland Cavaliers).

Events
The airport was the site of the annual Grand Prix of Cleveland, last held in 2007, a Champ Car race which required the airport to be briefly shut down. Burke Lakefront Airport was the only airport in the country to host such a major car race which required careful maintenance of the runways in order to keep them safe for cars at high speeds.

Every Labor Day weekend, the airport hosts the annual Cleveland National Air Show attended by 60,000 to 100,000 visitors.

On the evening of Thursday, October 25, 2012 President Barack Obama held a rally on the tarmac in front of Air Force One for the 2012 Presidential election. He was greeted by a crowd of over 12,000 according to various Cleveland news outlets.

Facilities
Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport covers 450 acre and has two asphalt runways: 6L/24R is 6,198 x 150 ft (1,889 x 46 m) and 6R/24L is 5,197 x 100 ft (1,584 x 30 m). It can handle large jets: 737s, 757s, and A320s along with smaller general aviation aircraft.

The airport has two fixed-base operators.

In 2005 the airport had 96,658 aircraft operations, average 264 per day: 76% general aviation, 24% air taxi, 1% military and <1% scheduled commercial.

Four flight schools are at Burke Lakefront: The Premier Flight Academy, T & G Flying Club, Inc., Top Gun Flight Training, and Precision Helicopters.

The International Women's Air & Space Museum is located throughout the terminal at BKL.