In 2014, less than four years after Continental and United announced they were merging, United shut down its hub at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The number of nonstop flights offered by United is now a quarter of what it once was. This loss of direct access to many destinations around the country was just the latest blow to air travel in the region. In the last decade, Pittsburgh also lost its hub status, and Cincinnati has seen the number of direct flights reduced drastically. The four-part series Grounded: The Dehubbing of the Region’s Airports examined the ramifications of the loss of the Continental/United hub - positive and negative. Stories included a history of the hub system, how Cleveland Hopkins has been altered by the loss of the hub, Akron-Canton Airport's changing role in the region, and a look into the future.
The four segments is Grounded: The Dehubbing of the Region's Airports aired on consecutive Tuesdays from May 3 though May 24, 2016. Find pages for individual reports and additional media (including an interactive timeline) at wksu.org/topic/grounded-dehubbing-regions-airports.