Of course airlines are profit-seekers. Good point.
I had thought that intra-European airfares were still high, but maybe the invention of EasyJet, Go, RyanAir, Virgin and the like have squeezed the rents from the traditional carriers. But presumably, there are still some routes within Europe or between Europe and Asia where carrier restrictions or slot restrictions are in place and monopoly rents can still be earned.
I guess I'm surprised that PanAm didn't leave enough of those routes in place for Delta to operate as a proper FRA hub. Or perhaps to set up its own RyanAir-type subsidiary based in FRA.
Maybe the problem is that flag-carrier restrictions prevent the sale of tickets between two non-US, non-German cities using FRA as a hub. By comparison, geography would predict that almost all non-Japanese travelers using NRT as a hub have the US either as a destination or origin.
It that's true, then establishing an alliance with a local airline, like Air France, is a more efficient than operating your own hub in Europe.
Does anyone know if Delta re-sold any of those FRA rights? Is there a listing of reserved rights held by Delta?