True, but IAD is much more efficient from an airspace and real estate outlook for connecting to international flying. I would think that O&D PHL flights domestically would remain, but the international would be reduced and consolidated with IAD. This would reduce the amount of stuff the airlines try to fit into PHL's 5 lb bag everyday from about 15lbs to 7.
I don't think DCA flying would be affected much at all, since it is not a hub, but a focus city with a large O&D market.
cheers.
United controls above 60% of the IAD market and US controls over 50% of the DCA market. You either keep IAD or DCA. One has to get scaled back.
DCA has the premium domestic traffic and is a stellar preformer. Why I think IAD should be scaled down to an O&D international hub is that United could cut flights to cities such as Savannah, Charleston, Colombia, etc. etc. and chop down IAD to say where United has like 30% market share. Therefore, you could keep the high yield DCA operation and keep the profitable International flights at IAD.
Cities such as Savannah, Charleston, Colombia, Burlington, etc. can use PHL/CLT to transit to Rome, Paris, London, Munich, Frankfurt, etc. People from Savannah and Burlington are not going to Accra nor Bahrain nor any other service Philadelphia/Charlotte doesn't already have.
DCA can keep flights to Savannah, Greensboro, Martha's Vineyard, Hunstville, etc. and IAD could keep flights to the hubs, NYC, Miami, Seattle, Portland, and Dallas + International flights.
What I'm most interested in is what would happen to LGA. I wonder if United would have any plans for LGA. Probably not. Too much competition to become New York's airline (B6, DAL, AMR, CAL)
I found this article interesting, btw:
United, US Airways Talks at Key Juncture
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/04/10/united-us-airways-talks-at-key-juncture/