Originally Posted by
FWAAA
I agree. Despite being the third largest metro area in the country, Chicago is a nowheres-ville that should be abandoned to UA.
The same UA that's been shedding customers and revenue to AA for more than 27 months running. UA could use a break, and this would be a good one for UA.
AA should build up CLT even further, even though more than 80% of the passengers boarding US planes there are connecting passengers (who, by definition, almost always pay lower fares). Even though an executive at AA pointed out the other day that the CLT hub had the lowest unit revenue of any of the US (or AA) hubs.
AA should focus the majority of its cuts at ORD despite AA dominating the O&D traffic there; only half of the passengers are connecting at ORD, compared to more than 80% at CLT.
Yes, ORD should be downsized, even though international visitors actually want to visit Chicago. Charlotte isn't on the radar for visitors from Europe, South America or Asia. That's why CLT sees no foreign airlines serving the airport to Europe, South America or Asia (other than former Star Alliance partner LH). Chicago, on the other hand, sees lots of foreign airlines, as it's an actual destination for worldwide visitors.
Yes, the Midwest is economically depressed, as is Chicago, and AA would be better off handing off its lucrative O&D traffic there to UA, which could sure use the money.
I assume you're being sarcastic, however I can see AA cutting ORD flights in the next few years. AA has been cutting ORD for the past decade - reducing frequencies and moving mainline flights to regional. AA is also losing share in international traffic - AA cut many flights to Europe and on ORD-NRT UA flies a 747 daily while AA flies a 777 less than daily. How does AA dominate O&D traffic at ORD? UA has always been bigger than AA in ORD and UA shows no signs of giving up ORD.
At CLT, US/AA dominate the market, which helps them maintain pricing power and in turn helps with profits. CLT also has low operating costs and better weather than ORD. At ORD, the competition is huge, not to mention it is congested and prone to weather delays. I would not be surprised if CLT is more profitable for AA than ORD. Since the merger, CLT has seen several new flights added, none for ORD.
As I have said before, Parker (through his past actions) made it clear he prefers to dominate a smaller market over competing with others in a bigger market.
Here is a wild idea: AA moves its ORD hub to CLE. AA gets a midwest hub it can dominate, UA gets ORD to itself, Cleveland keeps a hub - everyone's a winner
