Dio:
The issue between WN and US on point-to-point versus hub flying creates productivity problems, but at this point for major airlines this is not an easy problem to address.
You simply cannot eliminate the hubs, which is not economically unfeasible, but times between banks are inefficient and increase costs across-the-board.
AA is attempting to address the hub flying labor productivity problem with its test program at ORD to space out flights, which is being expanded to other hubs. This is not a new plan and has been tried in the industry before, but has been largely unsuccessful.
One area that can fix this problem is what is called a contingent work force: one that is made up of part time employees, contractors, and consultants. Obviously, this type of idea would not go over well with labor and at US Dave Siegel understands this.
Thus, mature airline employees may have two options in the future: Either look for ways to be more productive to reduce the labor cost differential, which would permit incentives to cost effectively grow an airline or continue to have problems that could lead to the failure of an airline.
Chip