Future Hub Clarification

[PhillyAir5]

Obviously, PHL CLT are the hubs in the East. PHX and LAS are the hubs in the west. So USAirways will use a new 4 city-hub system. Am I correct in all this?

I'm assuming PHL will continue to be the main European and Carribean Hub.

 

[AL-PS-PI-AW]

CLT,LAS,PHL,PHX are hubs for US Airways. PIT,BOS,DCA,LGA,FLL are focus cities. I guess LAX could be considered a focus city as well.

 

[PhillyAir5]

Thats what I was figuring. I'm not surprised with the emergence of FLL as a key member of the HUB and spoke system.

 

[usairways85]

I thought they were considering LAS a focus city

Also PHL is the main European gateway while CLT is the main Caribbean gateway. PHL/CLT used to be neck and neck with the Caribbean but as of late they have shifted focus to CLT.

 

[john john]

Thats what I was figuring. I'm not surprised with the emergence of FLL as a key member of the HUB and spoke system.

NO he left (the guy who wanted FLL as a hub/focus city)

 

[FCYTravis]

LAX is not a focus city any more than SFO is. There's a lot of flights there, but they're all to PHL/CLT/PHX/PIT/LAS, with the exception of a couple Mexican resort destinations.

LAS is a weird hybrid - it's sort of like a focus city until the sun goes down, when it becomes a hub for the big "NiteFlite" connecting banks.

 

[PhillyAir5]

In terms of the future, I think FLL will have a greater impact on the Carribean than CLT will.

 

[FCYTravis]

In terms of the future, I think FLL will have a greater impact on the Carribean than CLT will.

Doubt it. Doug Parker is on the record as saying he thinks FLL was a mistake.

 

[PhillyAir5]

Doubt it. Doug Parker is on the record as saying he thinks FLL was a mistake.

Interesting.

 

[ringmaruf]

CLT,LAS,PHL,PHX are hubs for US Airways. PIT,BOS,DCA,LGA,FLL are focus cities. I guess LAX could be considered a focus city as well.

I thought they were considering LAS a focus city

Yes, LAS isn't nearly as big as people seem to think it is. And it's not just the West people--you'd expect them to assign an outsized level of importance to LAS--but the East people also seem to think LAS is larger than it is. PIT is similarly often thought of as still being bigger than it is nowadays. DCA, on the other hand, is much bigger than most people realize. Of course, I think Tempe bears a great deal of the responsability for how people perceive the sizes of PIT/LAS/DCA, since it has referred to PIT/LAS as "secondary hubs", but DCA as only a "focus city". Also, since there are clearly two very large hubs out East, I think many people want to assume that there are two very large hubs out West, creating a balance of sorts, when that's not in fact the case.

In terms of seats, from larger to smaller, it goes: CLT, PHL, PHX, DCA, LAS, LGA, PIT, BOS
In terms of departures, from larger to smaller, it goes: CLT, PHL, PHX, LGA, DCA, PIT, LAS, BOS

 

[AL-PS-PI-AW]

People....according to US Airways magazine, LAS,CLT,PHX,PHL are hubs. FLL,PIT,DCA,BOS,LGA are focus cities. Lets "nip this in the bud" like Mr Knotts use to say.

 

[FCYTravis]

I think it depends on how one defines "hub" and "focus city" and to me it boils down to connectivity vs. O&D. An airport whose flights are aimed and timed to serve connecting traffic is a hub, whereas an airport with flights primarily filled with major-city O&D traffic is a focus city.

DCA's flights are clearly mostly oriented toward O&D traffic for Washington, D.C. rather than connecting traffic from BTV to DAY. On the other hand, the LAS night hub is all about funneling evening/red-eye connections across the country, from OAK to DCA or BOS to SAN.

Therefore, in the classic sense DCA is a "focus city" and LAS is a "hub," albeit a small one.

Of course this is imperfect because I know lots of people O&D at LAS and surely some people connect through DCA (I've done it) - but it is a reasonable generalization.

 

[LD3]

How many flights does LAS handle per day?

 

[a320av8r]

I've noticed over the last couple of months the large increase in connecting traffic through LAS. We used to not have any conx but now it's about 1/4 of our load and growing with west coast destinations. = higher revenue.
Way to go.

 

[CLTBWIDAYSYR]

In terms of the future, I think FLL will have a greater impact on the Carribean than CLT will.

As some others have said, don't agree with this one. It seems that no one in Crystal City thought about getting customers from point A to point B in the FLL terminal. Customs and Immigration is a nightmare (and in a separate terminal). EVERYBODY miconnects!