FWAAA

No, that's not all you said. Here is exactly what you said:

It's impossible for any airline to exercise "strong price influence" (or pricing power or market power) over connecting passengers who presumably "have a choice in air travel." AA can exercise pricing power over the 65% market share that it does currently possess at CLT, but for the vast majority of the CLT passengers boarded - AA was probably the low bidder - that's why many of them are not connecting at ATL on Delta. Or flying nonstop on another airline (like pmAA). The Department of Justice detailed the methods pmUS used to undercut AA's fares at MIA and DFW with the Advantage Fares program.

Had you said that new AA has a 92% share of passengers boarded, that would be correct. That's not "market share."

When discussing pricing power or market power, it's the only way to look at a market.

The numbers come straight from the CLT airport website, so while they may not reflect desirability, they're the cards that new AA has been dealt at CLT. Only to the extent that other airlines are connecting passengers at CLT would the numbers be incorrect or out of whack. I think it's a safe assumption that new AA is the only airline connecting passengers at CLT in non-trivial numbers (perhaps WN or DL connects a passenger or two at CLT).

The Delta numbers provided by the CLT airport are consistent with other sources, such as RITA, so in the absence of contradictory data, the facts are as provided. On weekdays, DL operates about 16 mainline departures at CLT in addition to various DL connection carriers.

DL does appear to be very efficient in its CLT operations, as it must be, since new AA controls most of the existing gates. That's why CLT is building new domestic gates - WN and other airlines have been clamoring for them for years. Jerry Orr was very effective at running the airport for the benefit of US for many years, but he's out and new management may not see their role as chief AA protector at CLT. That would align new management with the mandate of the DOT on that issue.

I have no inside info either, but the facts demonstrate that CLT's connecting percentage is much larger than any other hub in the USA. That's not to say that CLT will cease being a connecting hub, but new AA need not connect quite as many passengers at CLT in the future (passengers who have been connecting at CLT because they were attracted by the low Advantage Fares offered by pmUS to take business away from pmAA nonstops prior to the merger).

Here is just one example: Prior to the merger, low-wage, low-fare US had every incentive to connect passengers between MIA and lots of other cities via CLT, competing with AA's attempts to build up its nonstop offerings at the MIA hub. MIA O&D passengers don't connect at CLT because it's a fun airport to visit; they've been connecting there because of the low US fares. New AA no longer has any incentive to undercut its own nonstop fares to/from MIA from lots of cities across the USA. There are some one-horse towns that require connections because they'll lack sufficient O&D to support a nonstop, but they'll now be the exception rather than the rule at CLT.

Lots of other examples like the above where network optimization means fewer flights at CLT (at least until CLT's population increases substantially). Still, 300-350 daily AA departures at CLT instead of 650 would be a large hub.