Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
Actually, AA was very interested in TW because of STL. It had outgrown the ORD hub which was a disaster in the summer of 2000. The thought was that AA could run hubs in both ORD and STL. It was great while it lasted. If the weather was bad in ORD, I'd reroute through STL and vice versa. When they built the new runway and de-peaked ORD, it was just extra expense.
What a difference a few years can make. By the time AA shut down its BNA hub in 1995, it had become an omni-directional hub, providing connections such as BOS-BNA-PHX, PHL-BNA-SAN, TPA-BNA-SFO etc. While not officially an alternate to ORD or DWF, the BNA hub was positioned geographically somewhat like STL. But obviously AA did not want to further develop BNA and closed the hub. Then just a few years later, AA acquires TW and touts STL as an alternate to ORD and DFW. At the time I scratched my head.
But the more things changed the more they stayed the same and AA abandoned STL, leaving once again just ORD and DFW.