Originally Posted by
Beckles
Wasn't there a term used by AA, something between 'focus city' and just plain 'hub' used to described BNA and RDU when AA was building them up? I seem to recall that the strategy in both BNA and RDU involved a a lot of F100's, recognizing that they needed smaller aircraft to make these cities work.
I lived in the RDU area during that time. Some of the media, as well as many of the pilots and controllers, referred to it as a "mini-hub". Not sure if that was an official term.
Apparently the goal was to focus on underused airports in fairly large metropolitan areas to service a moderate amount of flights with minimal delays. They were counting on a fairly large percentage of originating/terminating passengers (considered a requirement for any hub by most airlines).
RDU had precision runway monitoring equipment during the AA era, which allowed them to use instrument approaches to both runways simultaneously. RDU cannot do this using standard equipment, as the runways are not as far apart as say, ATL, DFW, or DEN.
SR