Cleveland Hopkins International Airport opened on July 1, 1925, as Cleveland Municipal Airport, one of the first municipally owned airports in the United States. The project was championed by city manager William R. Hopkins, who secured a $1.25 million bond issue to purchase 1,040 acres on the city's southwest side. Hopkins was a visionary; Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight wouldn't come for another two years. The airport was renamed in Hopkins' honor in 1951, on his 82nd birthday.

From its earliest years, CLE accumulated a remarkable list of firsts. Its 1929 terminal housed the world's first air traffic control tower, a glass-enclosed structure with a 360-degree view of the airfield. By 1930, the airport had added the first airfield lighting system and the first two-way radio air traffic control system in the nation. The National Air Races were held there from 1929 to 1949. In November 1968, Cleveland became the first city in the Western Hemisphere to connect an international airport to its downtown via direct rapid transit, with the completion of the RTA Red Line, a distinction that still holds today.

Located roughly 9 miles southwest of downtown Cleveland in the Hopkins neighborhood, CLE sits adjacent to NASA's Glenn Research Center. The airport operates a single terminal, the David A. Bragdon Terminal, with 3 active concourses (A, B, and C) arranged in a compact layout where all gates are accessible airside without re-screening. United Airlines, Frontier, Delta, American, and Southwest are among the carriers serving the airport. CLE recorded approximately 10 million passengers in 2025, making it Ohio's busiest airport and a durable anchor for the broader Great Lakes region.