Globaliser

The hub-and-spoke model has served consumers well too. It's a large part of what has made air travel affordable. The most recent big demonstration of this is perhaps Emirates (and to a lesser extent the other two big Middle Eastern airlines). EK's hubbing has made travel possible between any number of city pairs that would in the past have been a pain to travel between, and the model has driven down fares and revenue for everyone who's flying in the affected areas. The low-fare point-to-point model has not been spectacularly successful on long-haul, and even for short-haul travel in Europe there is still a lot that is not covered by low-fare point-to-point.

There's certainly an environmental argument to be made that people should be encourage to fly non-stop or direct where possible, and that deliberately taking more flights or travelling longer distances to reach one's destination should be penalised. But you wouldn't be able to do this without re-regulating air fares. Remember what it was like when they were regulated? Nope, I'll bet that most people here don't remember that, just as many people clamouring for UK railway nationalisation don't remember what it was like before privatisation and therefore have not thought about what should be done to avoid the problems of the past.

So, as I have said, we should be very careful what we wish for. If, collectively, we make it uneconomic for the airlines to offer cheaper fares to those who are prepared to jump through some hoops in return, we could come to regret the consequences.