It is 26 years since DL de-hubbed FRA (1997) and had FT existed at the time, I am sure that there would have been many people talking about how DL decimated that once successful and profitable Pan Am hub. Yes that hub made lots of sense from the late 40's through the late 80's, but even by the time that DL took it over, planes and routes had grown longer and thinner. For those unaware One would fly into FRA from any 8 or so US gateways on L1011's and A310's and then transfer to 727's to places such as IST, ATH, OTP, WAW, SVO, LED, BUD and VIE, often one flight a day and several only 3-5x per week? They dehubbed, places like ATH, IST and SVO got nonstops, in some cases several from different Delta hubs. They stopped serving others............and while some remember the hub with a tiny bit of nostalgia, no one really misses it. Aviation has moved on in every way shape and size, and in another 10-15 years those of you who thought that NRT was wonderful will feel the same way.

Note....they did also have the BOM flight from FRA which they then moved to CDG, and then tried to merge with NWA's similar service from AMS, then nonstop and switching between JFK and ATl for years.........