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Coordinates: 41°31′03″N 081°41′00″W / 41.5175, -81.683333

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport (IATA: BKL, ICAO: KBKL, FAA LID: BKL) is a public airport situated on the shore of Lake Erie, one mile (2 km) north of downtown Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States.^[1] It classified as a general aviation airport and is an FAA designated reliever to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), which is Greater Cleveland's primary airport.

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 handled 20,618 air taxi operations in 2005, and 23,370 in 2006. BKL handled 7,053 air taxi operations in the first four months of 2007. Burke Lakefront handles approximately 87,000 operations per year (average of 2000 to 2006). (20,391 for the first four months of 2007).

Since late 2006, there has been no commercial air service at the airport. The airline Destination One, briefly provided scheduled charter service between BKL and airports near the downtowns of Detroit and Cincinnati, as well as to Hilton Head, SC. However, this service was short-lived. Wright Airlines was based at BKL in the 1970s and 1980s, before declaring bankruptcy. In the 1990s, Midwest Express Airlines operated service from BKL, before moving their current operations to Hopkins.

The airport is the site of the annual Grand Prix of Cleveland, a Champ Car race which requires the airport to be briefly shut down. Burke Lakefront Airport is the only airport in the country to host such a major car race, which requires careful maintenance of the runways in order to keep them safe for cars at high speeds. The airport is also the site of the annual Cleveland National Airshow.

Critics of Burke Lakefront Airport contend that the land on which the facility sits is far too valuable for the purpose of general aviation, corporate air taxi services, and serving as a reliever airport for Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The land, located directly on Cleveland's underutilized lakefront, could, critics state, be developed into a new business and housing district. However, such critics equate the lack of commercial service at BKL with an airport that is not essential to the region. If the airport were closed, many of the 80,000 annual operations at BKL would shift to CLE, causing congestion and delays at the region's primary airport and thus impacting all service to the area. Furthermore, as air traffic is expanding each year in the US, BKL is prime airport for new GA service serving Downtown Cleveland.

Major changes to the lakefront and BKL, are on the immediate horizon, as Mayor Frank Jackson announced that the Burke Airport will remain an airport and a development plan is being prepared.

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport covers an area of 450 acres (182 ha) which contains two asphalt paved runways: 6L/24R measuring 6,198 x 150 ft. (1,889 x 46 m) and 6R/24L measuring 5,197 x 100 ft. (1,584 x 30 m).^[1]

The airport has two fixed-base operators on the grounds.

For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2004, the airport had 84,101 aircraft operations, an average of 230 per day: 76% general aviation, 24% air taxi, 1% military and <1% scheduled commercial. There are 72 aircraft based at this airport: 53% single-engine, 18% multi-engine, 18% helicopter and 11% jet.^[1]

• Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport at WikiMapia
• FAA Airport Diagram (PDF)
• Resources for this airport:
  • AirNav airport information for KBKL
  • ASN accident history for BKL
  • FlightAware airport information and live flight tracker
  • NOAA/NWS latest weather observations
  • SkyVector aeronautical chart for KBKL