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(Houston Chronicle)
Updated at 8:01 p.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio --
'
2009 inaugural season flying from Cleveland to London's Heathrow Airport was also its last.
The airline said Thursday that it won't resume flights between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Heathrow next summer.
The decision eliminates Northeast Ohio's only nonstop flight to Europe and dashes one of Hopkins' distinctions as a Continental hub.
The news was all too familiar. Continental started nonstop service from Cleveland to Paris in the summer of 2008, then announced in January it wouldn't bring it back this year. The airline cited "economic challenges," without giving particulars about passenger demand. Department of Transportation numbers showed the Paris flights were about three-fourths full.
That loss was followed by a bigger gain, though, when Cleveland landed service to the busiest gateway to Europe, Heathrow in London. Continental had been flying to London's more remote Gatwick Airport but got a crack at Heathrow with adoption of the international Open Skies Agreement. The pact eased government limits on flights between the U.S. and Europe and opened Heathrow to more takeoffs and landings by U.S. airlines.
Continental does not release performance numbers for specific markets, so it was not clear whether the decision to scrub the Cleveland-Heathrow flight was related to demand out of Northeast Ohio, the cost of renewing Cleveland-related takeoff and landing rights at Heathrow or other factors. Continental flew a 175-seat Boeing 757 jet on the route.
The airline in a statement blamed "the inability to secure economically viable seasonal slots at Heathrow and the impact of the global recession on the performance of the route."
"Continental regrets the circumstances that led to the decision," said Jim Compton, executive vice president of marketing. "We remain committed to our Cleveland hub and will monitor the market and slot availability for any decision on resumption of the service."
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said he will lead a delegation of business leaders to Continental headquarters in Houston early next year to talk about getting a London flight back. The daily nonstops to Heathrow had taken the place of summer service that started in 1999 from Cleveland to Gatwick Airport, which is further from central London and generally less convenient for business and leisure travelers.
"Cleveland is still a hub for Continental and Continental a great partner for the City of Cleveland. We will continue to work together to turn challenges into opportunities," Jackson said in a statement.
Airport Director Ricky Smith said local business and civic leaders are exploring options for recapturing an international route. One possibility is a private sector subsidy like that set up in Pittsburgh that helped convince Delta Air Lines to launch a Pittsburgh-Paris nonstop this year.
Businesses rallied to get a trans-Atlantic flight after a drastic scaleback by US Airways at the Pittsburgh International Airport left it without a nonstop to Europe. The business-led Allegheny Conference on Community Development and the state pledged $9 million to subsidize the Paris flight if it doesn't meet revenue targets.
"We're obviously disappointed and we're stepping back and working with Continental to see what we can do to resume service to Europe," Smith said. "Obviously we'd like to have service to London. Frankfurt is another one that rises to the top. Paris. Those are all destinations that are on our list."
Continental will continue to fly to Heathrow twice daily from its Houston hub and three times daily from its New York-area hub at Newark Liberty International Airport. Continental's Star Alliance partners also fly direct to Heathrow from Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles and Boston Logan.
Continental will likely use the landing rights it had for Cleveland jets to bulk up summer service to Heathrow from Houston or Newark, industry consultant Robert Mann said.
Mann said the decision to drop the Cleveland route is an offshoot of Continental's recent switch to the Star Alliance, an international airline group that includes Chicago-based United Airlines. With Continental and United now cooperating on marketing international flights, Chicago has become a logical connecting point for passengers who might previously have connected through Cleveland, he said.