Originally Posted by
perseus11
You seem to have ignored the OTHER 30% in the DOT list - which should be the only determination of achieving the 70% definition of Fortress Hub and the source for my earlier claim.
No, I didn't ignore it. Much of that 30% is comprised of numerous regional operators flying on behalf of US. I simply subtracted the mainline DL, UA and WN percentages from 100%. In any event, as I noted, those numbers include only domestic passenger share. I merely offered it up as an alternate source of data (beyond the PHL airport financial statements provided by
elitetraveler) to support his claimed number.
The PHL airport financial statements assert that US+AA has share of about ~76%. I'd add the BA share as well, since US/AA are in a revenue sharing joint venture, so BA might as well be AA (of course, that's how antitrust analysis sees it). In Note 21 of those statements, PHL said this:
21. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
On February 14, 2013, AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines, Inc., and US Airways Group, Inc. announced that the boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine and operate under the American Airlines name. The merger was completed on December 9, 2013. In FY 2013, US Airways and American operated an average of 460 daily flights and 16 daily flights at PHL, respectively, accounting for an aggregate 75.9 percent of the Airport’s enplaned passengers.
Adding the 1.3% BA share gives the combined AAL an overall market share of 77.2%, pretty darned close to the earlier ballpark of 79%.
Originally Posted by
perseus11
I'd actually prefer that PHL NOT achieve Fortress Hub status as it reduces the interest of foreign carriers in starting service. Look at what has/is happening at BOS as an example. It could, of course, be speculated that OW will result in more international carriers serving the region due to the vast US/AA domestic feed at PHL, but that remains to be seen.
Perhaps you're right. I don't know.
My assumption has always been that PHL lacks numerous foreign carriers because PHL isn't really an attractive destination for international visitors like NYC, BOS, WAS, LAS, MCO, MIA, CHI, SFO, SEA, SAN and LAX. Those cities are places that attract significant numbers of foreign travelers, and most of them (not all, but most) also have significant numbers of foreign carrier flights. PHL and CLT have very little foreign carrier service, and I've never assumed that was because US had a very strong (or fortress) hub position. I've always figured it was because PHL was way down the list of destinations for affluent foreigners. Even more so for CLT.
US already has a fairly impressive collection of TATL flights from PHL, so if you're rooting for new AAs success, additional foreign carriers adding service to PHL wouldn't be all that desirable. If you want lower airfares, on the other hand, then new foreign carriers would be a plus.
Under my imprecise definition of fortress hub, new AA has them at PHL, CLT, MIA and DFW.
DCA doesn't make the cut, nor does PHX, where WN has almost as many daily 737s as US mainline flights. LAX, ORD, JFK and LGA aren't fortress hubs for any airline, let alone new AA.