"Southwest Airlines Co. ("Southwest") is a major domestic airline that
provides predominantly shorthaul, high-frequency, POINT-TO-POINT, low-fare
service." (From annual form 10-K as filed with the SEC; emphasis are mine).
The only reason it may appear to have hubs is due to the number of flights
it conducts between different cities. You're just as likely to connect in
PDX or BNA as your are in PHX or MDW.
Smaller hubs failed because the were redundant. I don't consider PIT to be
a smaller hub because of US but do agree that RDU and CMH are smaller hubs.
RDU was a stupid place for AA to put a hub because they had another mini-hub
at BNA.
SLC could use another carrier but not as a hub. WN had a big presence
there. It would be great if more airlines followed WN's example and placed
point-to-point flights between non-hub cities. It makes for some really
strange routes such as BOI to OAK via SEA on AS or SAT to ELP via DFW.
O&D may be good for a hub but as I've mentioned, it's not good for the
consumer. Fares from CLT, CVG, DTW, and PIT, for example, are higher
because they are, for all practical purposes, one airline towns. (US, DL,
NW, and US respectively)
BTW, Alireza, glad you are here. Finally, there's some good discussion
going on rather than just seemingly endless press releases and news
articles.
David R.
http://home.attbi.com/~damiross
http://www.secure-skies.org/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alireza Alivandivafa" <DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx>
To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 8:16 PM
Subject: Re: [AIRLINE] Northwest adding nonstop flights from Milwaukee to
major cities
> I agree on the no hubs thing, though a lot of WN's ops could be considered
> hubs. They even set up flights as connections and multi-stops, as we all
> know. PHX, LAS, BWI, OAK, LAX, MDW are all examples.
> Hasn't the failures of a lot of small hubs (PIT, RDU, CMH) shown that
the
> bigger cities are better? I understand your argument, and it has some
> empirical bite, but I think O&D is needed to feed. That is why DEN, aside
> from how much money has been wasted there by the airport commission, is
such
> a good hub. I also think there is room for another op at SLC, considering
> that DL is the only hub there