About Burke Lakefront Airport
Burke Lakefront Airport is Cleveland's downtown general-aviation airport — 450 acres of runway, taxiway, and hangar built directly on Lake Erie landfill beginning in the 1940s, immediately east of the downtown lakefront cultural corridor. Named for Thomas Burke, Cleveland mayor 1945–1953. The airport hosts the annual Cleveland National Air Show over Labor Day weekend and serves corporate, flight-training, and charter aviation.
History
Built on Fill
Burke was built between 1947 and 1952, on landfill extended nearly a mile into the lake from the original shoreline at East 9th Street. The expansion more than doubled the area of the downtown lakefront. The airport opened for general-aviation use in 1952 and was named for Mayor Thomas Burke in 1958.
For most of its history, Burke served as Cleveland's secondary airport — the primary being Cleveland Hopkins, opened in 1925 on the city's southwest side. Burke's strength was location: its proximity to downtown made it ideal for corporate and charter flights, and for the air show.
The Air Show
A Labor Day Tradition
The Cleveland National Air Show began in 1964 and has been held annually at Burke ever since, drawing crowds of 50,000–100,000 over the Labor Day weekend. The show's centerpiece is typically a Blue Angels or Thunderbirds demonstration, flying directly over the downtown lakefront. Voinovich Park, a mile west, is a common unofficial viewing area.
The airport's future has been the subject of intermittent civic debate. Proposals to convert all or part of the site to parkland or mixed-use development have been floated for decades; the 2025 North Coast Yard RFQ explicitly contemplated future integration of the Burke footprint into the larger lakefront redevelopment. As of 2026 the airport remains in active operation.
Nearby on the Shoreline