Originally Posted by
ashill
Is the O&D traffic (what
6P&E was talking about) at PHL really smaller than CLT? I don't think it is.
AA has 91.3% of the traffic at CLT (
http://www.cltairport.com/News/Docum...portFY2016.pdf, p. 122), and my memory is that 85% of AA's traffic is connecting. Assuming that all the non-AA traffic is O&D, that means that 23% of the CLT traffic (4.8 million annual enplanements) is O&D. I can't find those numbers readily for PHL, but Delta mainline + Southwest + Frontier is more than 20% of the PHL traffic (
https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp?pn=1), and there's also United, Alaska, Air Canada, Lufthansa, and the regional flights that are operated for Delta to add to the non-AA airlines that will be dominated by O&D traffic. So even if all of the remaining 80% of the traffic is AA (which it isn't), 32% of the PHL traffic is O&D and the same 85% of AA traffic is connecting (may well be lower at PHL), that's 4.8 million O&D enplanements in 2016. Factor in the others, and there would be considerably more O&D traffic at PHL than CLT.
There was something in a RFP document from the airport that stated PHL served ~60% O&D paxs in 2016 (across all airlines).
Originally Posted by
FlightNurse
CLT might not be as big, but the traffic that goes through the airport is larger then PHL.
In the world of these mega airline mergers, every hub does not need to serve every key strategical need.
AA has made it clear. CLT is a key domestic/Caribbean connecting hub. It has a pretty good suite of international service and AA will modestly evaluate that service to potentially add (or subtract) to the existing service. AA has no plans to make CLT into a PHL type international operation. That's from the horses mouth, that is not some type of internet airline armchair CEO stance.