Originally Posted by
6P&E
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.
Just for the record, AA did just about everything to make BNA a profitable hub. At one point, Bob Crandall gave an order to all departments: "Find a way to make BNA profitable!" Unfortunately, it simply was an impossible task and BNA was closed. As for STL, the sad and unfortunate event of 9/11 happened. After the resulting downturn in air travel, AA just couldn't justify three mid-continent hubs. The strategy was going to be for seasonal relief to ORD and DFW. STL would be smaller in the winter and larger during the summer months.