"United Airlines’ (UAL) decision to quit its Cleveland hub this spring—Hopkins International doesn’t rock, apparently—isn’t the first time a major city has lost its bragging rights as an airline base, and it won’t be the last.
Memphis and, to a lesser extent, Cincinnati, have both lost their hub status since Delta Air Lines (DAL) absorbed Northwest and rationalized its network, cutting financially underperforming flights. A similar story played out at Hopkins, a former Continental hub inherited in United’s 2010 merger that hasn’t been profitable for a decade, according to a recent memo (PDF) sent to Cleveland workers by United Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek.
A successful hub needs two main ingredients: a large metropolitan area and a dominant position by an airline. Think of Atlanta and Delta, or Houston and United. With the newly minted American Airlines (AAL) behemoth working on its own megamerger with US Airways, other lesser hub cities would be right to grow nervous.
American is run by a core group of executives from US Airways, which dropped Pittsburgh as a base after its long-ago merger with America West Airlines. Highest atop the proverbial wall of worry is Phoenix, a US Airways hub that finds itself at a geographic and competitive disadvantage within the airline’s new network. Geographically, it’s between Dallas/Fort Worth—American’s home airport, and one where it dominates both financially and operationally—and Los Angeles, a huge market that could, under American, become a true hub for the first time."
Bloomberg Businessweek
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Has anyone been affected by this type of airline change-up, for good or for ill?
Bloomberg Businessweek
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Has anyone been affected by this type of airline change-up, for good or for ill?
11 comments:
Not surprised.
Hopkins is a pain; anybody who can flies out of Akron-Canton
I remember when Frontier Airlines dropped Denver as its hub -- that was pre-DIA days, when planes flew in and out of Stapleton.
The region responded by building a big airport.
Hopkins is a pain; anybody who can flies out of Akron-Canton
How long before we see the Akron Indians in the AL?
I also prefer Akron-Canton Airport. Nice homey little place. But, you always have to fly an extra hour or so and go to some distant hub to get to your destination. I'll miss being able to drive up to Cleveland and fly directly to a major city.
RDU used to be an American hub, right up until a talentless pilot flew his puddle jumper into the piney woods.
That crash gave AA the excuse they needed to close a money losing hub.
Raleigh.....?
Raleigh, Durham, Umstead.
Yeah, I just remembered the Durham...never would have gotten the Umstead.
Ever seen the movie Bull Durham?
Only in the best way. United's got the worst performance of any major airline. Any market out which they pull can only be in for better things, as near as I can tell.
The entire aviation industry will be far better off the day this jackass retires or is sacked.
Yeah, the "Umstead" may or may not be true - it is a tale handed down by elder mountain bikers to the younger riders traversing the many miles of trails in Umstead State Park, which is adjacent to the airport. I like the way it works with the R and the D, so I repeat it.
Like everything a liberal says, if it is repeated loud enough, often enough, it becomes the truth.
I found some nice old home sites in that park - foundations, graveyards, crossroads, cobblestone roads - a trip back in time.
Neat, Sixty.
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