This is more for discussion purposes, as I haven't read anything that suggests UA has any interest in building out additional hubs or focus cities. Do folks think that UA would ever contemplate adding more domestic hubs or focus cities in the future? It seems like DL has been quite aggressive around expansion (e.g. SEA, RDU, BOS, to name a few), and while I don't have numbers, I have to imagine that this helps DL continue to build market share outside of its core hubs. With UA, the only quasi-focus city left in the network is CLE, and I don't think that is somewhere that they are really 'focusing', as opposed to keeping a legacy number of routes to spokes that make sense. UA certainly has a different hub setup relative to AA and DL (particularly with the coastal concentration), but this also means that it has some gaps in particular in the existing network, with the Southeast being the most glaring example.
Perhaps the FA integration, re-banking at other hubs, and other actions need to be taken first before this would be contemplated - but do folks think UA should be thinking about expanding / building out operations at other airports, or are their existing mainland hubs (SFO, LAX, DEN, IAH, ORD, IAD, and EWR) sufficient? Would be interested to hear other's thoughts on this
