Imagine for a moment.
It is the summer of 2029, and your neighbors Mike and Mel, who moved away to London a few years ago, are coming back to visit.
What will they see?
What will they experience?
Let me try to paint a picture.
Their experience begins before they ever board the plane.
Like many people who love this region, they still follow the local news. And over the last few years, the tone of that news has changed. There has been a steady drumbeat of announcements. Major local, state, and federal investments. Photos of construction along the lakefront, downtown, and across the inner ring suburbs. A region rediscovering a sense of legitimate optimism.
They have been especially excited about one announcement in particular. A recently launched direct flight.
When they land at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the difference is immediate.
The airport is Cleaner. Brighter. Better maintained. Better flow.
They look at each other and think, this is not how I remember this place.
But the real surprise comes once they get into the car.
Construction is everywhere.
Then they see it. Across the way. The thing they have been most curious about.
The new Cleveland Browns stadium.
They ask the driver to take a short detour, just to drive around the campus.
This is incredible.
What is going on here?
As they continue driving, another set of buildings catches their eye.
Near NASA Glenn Research Center, new facilities are rising. Company names they do not recognize. Logos they have never seen before. They had read about Glenn’s work in advanced power systems, nuclear, and aviation energy. They had heard that universities from across the region and the country were establishing a presence nearby to support research, talent, and commercialization.
Reading about it was one thing. Seeing it is another.
Mel turns to Mike and says quietly, “Remind me why we moved away from here.”
Is this fiction?
Is this wishful thinking?
Or is this our emerging reality?
I would argue it is the latter.
Never before has Greater Cleveland been more in control of its own destiny.
As I spend time with the Leaders from the County, our anchor institutions, local mayors and their teams, what strikes me most is their clarity and determination. They are not waiting to be saved. They are actively shaping what comes next.
Organizations like TeamNEO and JobsOhio are working relentlessly to position NASA Glenn Research Center and Ohio as a national hub for advanced energy and aerospace research.
The Haslam Group has moved from vision to execution on the new stadium, with construction already underway.
Under the leadership of Director Bryant Francis and Mayor Justin Bibb, Cleveland Hopkins has assembled a rare team of visionary doers with bold, practical plans to reimagine the airport as an economic engine, not just a transportation asset.
Let me zoom in on one example that makes me especially bullish.
For years, we have said the same thing. We want more direct flights to Europe.
So how does that actually happen?
Airlines have one primary requirement. Profitability.
That means filling the top of the plane with passengers and the bottom of the plane with high-value cargo. It also helps enormously when there are nearby facilities for aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul.
This is not accidental. It is designed.
The opportunity is to create a new Aviation Campus at Cleveland Hopkins.
Imagine 100,000 to 150,000 square feet of new hangar space. Space that supports cargo processing, aircraft maintenance, and specialized aviation services.
Now take it one step further.
Layer in aviation education and workforce training. Programs that allow young people to learn how to work on aircraft and earn strong, family-sustaining wages. Talent pipelines that connect institutions like Argonaut Aviation and Maritime School, Polaris Career Center, and Lorain County Joint Vocational School directly to employers on the campus.
This is how you fill planes.
This is how you attract carriers.
This is how infrastructure, talent, and economic strategy reinforce each other.
The data reinforces this opportunity.
While Cleveland has secured important seasonal service to Dublin, our region remains materially under-connected to major European hubs compared to peer metros such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Nashville. For a region of our population, corporate base, and research intensity, the gap represents opportunity, not limitation.
At the same time, the global aviation maintenance, repair, and overhaul market already exceeds 95 billion dollars annually and is projected to grow substantially, even as the industry faces a severe shortage of skilled technicians.
Ohio is widely recognized as a national leader in career and technical education, producing thousands of aviation and advanced manufacturing graduates each year. Aircraft maintenance technicians routinely earn 70,000 to 100,000 dollars annually, creating a rare alignment between workforce opportunity, airline economics, and regional growth.
This story is not about airports or stadiums or buildings.
It is about a region remembering who it is.
The question is not whether this future is possible. The question is whether we have the discipline to finish what we have started.
If we do, then when Mike and Mel come home in 2029, the only real mystery will be why anyone ever left.
Hrishue Mahalaha
Executive Director
Aerozone Alliance
