It's rare to see airlines fly between cities where none of them is a hub either for the airline itself or at least for an alliance partner. In fact I cannot think of any, with the obvious exception of leisure airlines. But not "network" airlines.

But there are routes that previously did not exist which are, as mentioned above, additional spokes to the hub. The A321LR helps. Lisbon-Maceio or Aalborg-EWR where unthinkable not too long ago.