Mayor Frank Jackson is asking Ohio's Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich to chair an inquiry into how airline mergers would impact Cleveland's largest airport. Kucinich chairs the Domestic Policy Subcommittee.
Worry about the airport's status has grown after media outlets reported that Continental is in merger talks with United Airlines. Cleveland Hopkins is Continental's smallest hub, that is if you don't include Guam. If Continental and United were to merge, Cleveland Hopkins would be sandwiched between the two airlines much busier hub airports in Newark, Chicago and Washington Dulles. And that leaves many analysts thinking that Cleveland Hopkins would lose its hub status. Ricky Smith heads Cleveland's Port Control office and oversees operations at Cleveland Hopkins.
Ricky Smith: It's an important economic driver, an important part of the economic infrastructure to this region and our goal is to try and preserve that to the extent we can.
Executives at Continental and United have not confirmed reports of merger talks, nor have they ever confirmed reports of previous talks two years ago. A merger of the two companies would create the world's largest airline.