Originally Posted by
fender5787
I meant PHL has failed as a *primary* hub, in the sense that JFK is still the main TATL hub and the planned winding of down of JFK to just a handful of TATLs to LHR and a few other cities never happend. A good example of this is pulling the PHL-MAD flight but still keeping the JFK-MAD flight even though there’s two IB flights as well ex-JFK. As for why, I think it’s simply down to PHL not having enough O and D traffic, and I’m guessing the same will happen with PHX vs. LAX.
Not sure about that. Just 7 TA destinations in season and 5 in the off season for AA at JFK would count as a 'handful' to me. In 2023, PHL has more TA destinations in peak season on AA than JFK does. And even in the off season:
JFK (5): LHR, CDG, MXP, BCN, MAD
PHL (7): LHR, DUB, CDG, FCO, AMS, MAD, ZUR.
I won't disagree that PHL lacks the O&D that JFK does, though PHL-MAD was probably pulled (temporarily until the 788's resume...again) because of light loads in May/June and mostly connecting passengers they can route through JFK or on BA through LHR.
More data points. Reference:
https://www.transtats.bts.gov/Data_Elements.aspx?Data=1
PHL:
2022: AA enplaned 4.8M domestic and 760K international passengers
2019: AA enplaned 6.2M domestic and 1.2M international passengers
PHL hasn't caught up to the 2019 numbers as of 2022, but apples for apples they still beat AA's overall departures at JFK in either year by a large margin.
JFK:
2022: AA enplaned 1.8M domestic passengers and 1.1M international passengers
2019: AA enplaned 1.9M domestic passengers and 1.0M international passengers
The LHR flights with the BA JV and premium LAX flights are the AA crown jewels of JFK. Without those, they would barely be a notable carrier at JFK. And without B6, they may not even have that many TA destinations in either season.