Originally Posted by
mke9499
WTMJ TV interviewed Ben Mutzabaugh, who said "Having two hubs like this makes it a very strong carrier and able to compete with the likes of AirTran, Alaska Air, and possibly even Southwest."
Having two (or more) hubs does not make for a strong airline. Better said, strong airlines can succeed with multiple hubs. FL's previous hub expansions have been less successful because of their weak financial position. MKE is successful for them because they have the resources to win. F9/RAH's resources are questionable. Who will succeed in MKE and DEN? I assert the airline(s) with the most resources. Now that RAH is going mainline, I expect a lot of their income activity (contracted flying) to dry up. While F9 may attract market share, especially in DEN (who said loyalty doesn't matter?), do they have the resources to succeed against WN and/or UA? WN or FL in MKE? IMO, F9 is seriously lagging the fight and the stronger companies recognize the need/advantage to kill the least viable competitor.
We'll see...