Originally Posted by
joejones
CLT is a pretty weak airport for local traffic. It gets as many O&D passengers as SMF or MSY. The bank HQs in the area are focused on back office operations (i.e. not a lot of travel) and the other corporate HQs tend to be low-margin retailers etc.
AA's hub is so big mainly because the operating costs are extremely low. See
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/...s-why-14312248
They are going to expand the existing concourses, not build a new terminal.
UA would get crushed if they tried to challenge AA in this market.
Delta beat them to those new gates, even announcing a skyclub opening this year.
Delta seems to be doing a great job at inching its way into competitor's hubs, look at what they are doing at MIA, they are slowly entering into AA's key markets, San Diego too with Southwest, etc,,, it'd be nice to see United do this, or at least announce a route that isn't just another hub-city route. I know this will likely not happen any time soon, but I'd love to see United be a bit more exotic with their domestic network