United's decision to pull its hub from Cleveland shocked area business leaders, who thought they had forged a lasting relationship with the airline.
Joe Roman, right, lead the campaign to keep the United Airlines hub in Cleveland. He visited The Plain Dealer editorial offices with Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald in June. CLEVELAND, Ohio - No one worked harder to keep the United Airlines hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport than the Greater Cleveland Partnership and its president, Joe Roman.
The partnership, the region's chamber of commerce, ran a spirited campaign to preserve the premium air service, United for Cleveland's Hub. Roman urged business leaders and chamber members to fly United from Cleveland whenever possible, even if it cost more, and often touted the airline's commitment to the city.
Stunned by the weekend news, Roman said he's resolved to work to attract other airlines to fill the void United intends to leave.
"It's discouraging, but I think with a lot of aggressive action it's something we can sustain," he said. "We've got an economy that's growing drastically. We're going to use the assets we have to pursue good air service for our businesses. We've got a lot of stuff in this town that we can sell and we're going to sell it."
Roman and many other business leaders thought they had already sold United on Cleveland.
Last Thursday night, the GCP hosted 250 people at a reception at the Global Center for Health Innovation to celebrate the new issue of United's inflight magazine, Hemispheres, which includes a 56-page insert all about its hub city of Cleveland.
United executives attended the reception, took to the speaker's platform and spoke kindly of the city.
On Friday, Roman heard dark rumors. On Saturday, he talked twice with Jeff Smisek, chairman of United's board and the airlines' president and chief executive officer, who was polite but unrelenting.
The hub is gone.
Cleveland was great. The city did all it could, Roman said he was told. But United is cutting back drastically at Hopkins.
"We've been working on this for three years. So this is not a total surprise," Roman said. "Understand, we're the smallest hub in a very large system, which is why we've been working so hard."
The airline has a much larger customer base than Northeast Ohio, Roman said he was reminded, and United's customers preferred to make their connections at other airports.
"The fact there are so many other hubs has led many passengers to pick Chicago, for example, over Cleveland," he said. "It's a connection issue. I think we've been doing our job. We're part of a much bigger system."
Tom Waltermire, the chief executive of the regional business attraction agency Team NEO, said losing the hub is damaging but not a back breaker.
He said most of the traffic generated at Hopkins was local traffic and he suspects other carriers will be quick to step in to carry those passengers.
As far as attracting new business, the city loses a sharp arrow in its quiver, but it's only one arrow, Waltermire said. Other cities are faring well without hubs.
"Having more direct flights is obviously a positive," Waltermire said. "Our neighboring cities, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, none of them have that kind of service. So we had an advantage. It was one of those extra things that's been helpful. But those other three cities are still growing well."
The hub is a great convenience but not essential, he said.
"Is it needed for the economy to grow? No," Waltermire said. "This is regrettable, but it's not going to stop the growth of our economy. It (the hub) comes up in our business attraction work, but it's not the only thing."
Roman said the GCP will now approach other airlines "to see if we can replace the service we lost."
He said the chamber will also work with United, which will no longer staff a hub but will continue to be a big presence at Cleveland Hopkins.