More Focus Cities?

With all the hype of PIT becoming a focus city in the next year,if not by Nov, i was wondering what cities on the US map might become a focus city in the like of DCA/BOS/LGA.
I really believe that we need to grab the market in CMH before someone else does. I know AA has a large number of flights but I think we could do very well there. Bring back the CMH-LAS/LAX/SFO flying and add mainline to FLL/TPA/MCO/RSW/MSY and bring some RJ flying to YYZ/BDL/JAX.
BDL is another great O/D market. Its the insurance capital of the world and has a large metro population being close to BOS and LGA. BDL-Florida/LAX/LAS/SJU/SFO sound like smart moves to me.
Any other ideas of some focus cities?
 
I would especially like to see US capitalize on the UA partnership a bit more. Routes like BWI-DEN/LAX/SFO, CMH-LAX/SFO, etc. etc. may now work since there is feed (via UA) on the other end. Look how UA has added DEN-PIT/CLT, for example.
 
Why do you think that CMH-west coast will work for US now? They didn't work for US before (hence they were dropped), and they didn't work for HP (even with their RJ feed from the major northeast cities).

So what has changed that makes you think this will work again?
 
I would guess SDF for a focus city. It's the HQ of Chatauqua's Republic division, the terminal is undergoing major renovation with RJ gates being added, and it's close to CVG to put pressure on DL there.
 
funguy2 said:
Why do you think that CMH-west coast will work for US now? They didn't work for US before (hence they were dropped), and they didn't work for HP (even with their RJ feed from the major northeast cities).

So what has changed that makes you think this will work again?
I tihnk it will work now because back when we were doing all this CHM flying US was in a economic mess. This new transformation plan and the compnay getting its costs into line will allow this kind of point to point flying to make money. Im hoping it works.
 
TransatlanticFlyGuy said:
I tihnk it will work now because back when we were doing all this CHM flying US was in a economic mess. This new transformation plan and the compnay getting its costs into line will allow this kind of point to point flying to make money. Im hoping it works.
But it did not work for HP, with CASM at 60-66% of US Airways...

I don't think the issue is cost... I think the issue is demand. How many folks are traveling CMH-LAX on a single day? If its 200, then assume US Airways with its 1 nonstop gets half of them, that means 100pax per day, close to making money on a 319... maybe. I assume 1/2 because I assume the other 1/2 will want to travel at other times of day, find better deals on a connection, Frequent Flyer loyalties to AMR, UAL, DAL, etc.

I am betting, however, that the market size is 150 pax per day or less... Lower costs will solve a demand problem... Otherwise, HP would still offer the service, I would assume.
 
I think the focus cities will be large metro areas like BOS, WAS, NYC, PIT, PHL, MCO-TPA, CLT, ATL, maybe cities like DEN, ORD, LAX, SFO depending how the code share works. These markets will support point-to-point flying. Connections will be a by product.

Instead of sending a passenger from RIC thru PIT to get to SYR, RIC will have several point-to-point flights to LGA and BOS, and LGA and BOS will have several point-to-point flights to SYR. None of which will depend on connecting passengers to be profitable. But there will be some seats available for connections. (SOUTHWEST MODEL).

PIT will slowly dissolve under this model. Basically present PIT hub connections will be spread among these focus cities. It will make it harder for the LCC's to move in on us.

RJ's will still be used to fill the gaps into small markets. CLT and PHL will still fuction l like a hub for small cities.

I don't look for the SDF's and CHM's of the system to become focus cities..... They may get a couple of extra flights from a focus city...
 
I remember when we had tons of service out of CMH. But it also seemed we were cannibalizing ourselves in that area. We had nonstops to LAX from DAY, CMH, CLE, IND and PIT, all pretty close to each other. Of course, I realize this had nothing to do with the thread's original topic, I was just reminiscing. :D
 
I guess as far as US is concerned, anything not on the east or west coast is not a large metropolitan area except perhaps Chicago. Maybe that's why oversold RJs are flying to cities that once had DC-9 and 737 service.

Population data from a 2003 atlas:

BOS- 589,141
PIT- 334,563
MCO-185951
TPA-303,447
CLT-540,828
DEN-554,636
SDF-529,548
CMH-711,470
IND-791,926
CVG-331,285

Now, I realize these aren't numbers for the entire metro areas, and the FL cities attract the tourist traffic, but a look at the county number shows CMH's Franklin county at 1,068,978 as compared to PIT's Allegheny county at 1,281,666, CLTs Mecklenburg county at 695,454 and CVGs Hamilton county at 845303. A good-sized midwestern city can used effectively,as shown by DL at CVG and WN at Nashville, pop. 569891.