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Hopkins is busy as thousands head home after RNC

Visitors head home after Republican National Convention (Darrielle Snipes/ideastream)

Things are running relatively smoothly at Cleveland Hopkins Airport as thousands of visitors head home now that the Republican National Convention is over.

About 600 passengers had to find new flights after Southwest Airlines had a computer problem earlier this week and didn't have the correct airplanes in place. 

The airport’s Interim Director Fred Szabo says other airlines tried to re-book those displaced passengers on their planes.  He says it proved difficult since they were already nearly filled to capacity. United Airlines brought in an extra plane to fly delegates to Chicago.

Szabo says security wait times were around 15 minutes because Hopkins’ management anticipated when the airport would be busiest.

“We plotted by hour how many passengers were departing and which check point they were going through and it gave us the ability to staff appropriately,” said Szabo “But Not only for the check points but for traffic control and the meeters and greeters here in the airport. The planning was exceptional.”

An estimated 20,000 people will fly out of Hopkins today.  He expects Saturday to be another busy day.

Szabo says the recent remodel of the airport and the addition of 20 TSA agents made the process smoother.