spin88

c2010 Delta (DL +NW) had a comparatively weak network compared to UA+CO. Delta was dominant in the South/SE (including upper FL) and NW was really just a two hub-airline (SLC was not a full sized hub) serving the upper midwest/great plains. The combined airline had no real presence in the Pacific North West, was very weak ex-LAX, and had no major market share in the rest of CA, was weak in NYC, and had only a small presence via the shuttle in BOS and other eastern sea-board cities. Plus, the NWA pacific routes relied upon a NRT hub, which was not functional given the direction air travel was going.

Delta took its better brand post 2011, and expanded dramatically in LAX, JFK, SEA, while pulling down MEM and Cincinnati. It is now expanding as you noted further in BOS and RDU as "focus cities"

With the exception of a weak presence in the pacific northwest, and then a major network hole in the South East/South/Florida, I don't think UA's current problem is having bad hubs. I continue to think that UA has the best network of the three major carriers (with DL a much closer second place at this point). United would need a much better brand than it currently has, and would need to be willing to spend some major bucks and also expand more than it currently is projecting, to try to fix its "South East/South" network hole. There is just not a good location that (a) has the business traffic, and is (b) located south enough to really add some coverage where UA lacks it.

beachmouse

I suspect that if/when the Silver line Dulles station actually happens that general O&D interest in IAD will pick up right quick. It will never be as outright convenient as National, but that station will fix a fair amount of the ground transportation that IAD currently has.

As for Florida, it really is too much out of the way, both as a domestic-domestic hub and domestic-transatlantic. You're just adding way to many miles and burning way too much fuel once you get that far south .(Florida is the same latitude as the Western Sahara) American takes the hit on Great Circle mileage because they can make Miami work as their hub for the Caribbean/Central/South America, and United likely doesn't want to just duplicate that at FLL.

cova

I don't know of any major new airports being built in the USA. IAD has room for expansion, so does DFW. Some day (about 30 years from now) IAD will be greatly expanded with several new terminal islands.

cur

krazykanuck

Nobody that I know that flies intra-Texas uses UA. They all fly WN, not because they want to, but their frequency and use of HOU and DAL over IAH and DFW are a huge plus, since they're both closer to downtown. AUS seems to mostly be a destination for people on UA only if they have to connect through IAH. AUS is busting at the seams, hence their currently under construction expansion which should benefit DL which has secured space for a new SkyClub there.

Love Field is always a fun topic since it's hard fought territory and nobody is happy with it. This is a nice article from a few months ago in response to the City of Dallas trying to deal with it and even United and AA filed objections, despite not using the airport. You know you have a good plan when it pisses everybody off! https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...ield-gate-plan Delta and Southwest have been at each other for years over this debate, and I don't know if they've ever been resolved.

kale73

If there truly is a "need" for a southeastern hub (and UA doesn't want to go head to head with AA in CLT), I think JAX may be the best location.

Considerations:
It would be the second smallest hub city (by metropolitan population) for any legacy mainline carrier in the U.S. (The smallest is SLC.)
But, the metropolitan area has experienced double-digit population growth from 2010 to the present.

It's on the Atlantic coast, and thus susceptible to closures due to tropical systems.
But IAH is also susecptible to IRROPS due to tropical weather, and I think it unlikely that tropical cyclones will impact operations at JAX more than fog at SFO or blizzards at ORD or whatever it is that impacts operations at EWR.

The terminal and parking facilities (and possibly the runways) would need to be expanded to sustain a "hub" operation.
But, if Google Maps is any indicator, there's plenty of "empty" land adjacent to the airfield.


But unless it's to be used as a Caribbean / South / Central American international gateway, I don't really see the need. IAH-MIA and IAD-MIA are both under 1,000 miles.

BF263533

CO sold off IAD & DEN to UAL.

CO Lite's Greensboro lasted from 1993 to 1995.

CO's HNL had Japan, CNS, SYD, AKL, some Polynesian islands, GUM & Island Hopper

UAL's MIA hub lasted a few years, did they have 747s?

Around 1970 UAL would have like 50 flights a day from PIT, with Sunbird nonstops to Florida. (as did TWA).

Delta had a hub in MCO that did not last.

IAD may be the best option to serve the Southeast, with more daily service from IAH to cities like PBI.

joeyE

halls120

Hard to say what Smisek move was more stupid than this one.

This. x1000

tarheelnj

Bring back the GSO hub!

<500 miles from 1/2 the US population
Long runways
Plenty of empty gates, so could start right away
...and while we're dreaming, have Amtrak build track to the airport and reroute its Raleigh-Charlotte service for an approx 1hr 30min - 1hr 45min commute to Raleigh/Charlotte downtown.

HeadInTheClouds

oopsz

SLC was a legacy Delta hub. NW was MSP/DTW/MEM/NRT (with a large connecting operation in MEM). NW had their CO agreement which they relied on heavily to funnel passengers through IAH/EWR (and likewise CO routed pax via NRT on NW).

mh3265a

With UA's new corporate preferred program starting soon I believe that Microsoft will be one of the companies in the new program. I doubt that just because they're adding Microsoft will mean that UA looks to SEA as a hub but I think it'll hasten DL further retreating from SEA and we'll see if UA adds more seats or flights out of SEA.

applegrcoug

Being someone in the NW, I can remember back in the 1990s, Seattle was a focus city for UA. They occupied the entire North terminal/annex. They ran a lot of turboprop united express flights to the smaller cities in the region, like my home in YKM. Along with that, that is the days of "Shuttle" that kind of did a lot of west coast routes. In fact, they even ran a flight or two per day to PDX from here. Also at that time, they had Seattle to Alaska flights and even a SEA-LHR route. Then in 2001, they pulled the plug on a big chunk of it and it has slowly been scaled back here. They don't even offer SEA-PDX service anymore and I think only two non-stop SEA-LAX and zero PDX-LAX.

Now then, sometime in the next few months there is supposed to be new service starting from Paine Field in Everett; home of the Boeing wide body plant. Alaska plans on being the number one carrier and United will be number two with 13 and six departures per day respectively. It looks like UA will be using EJ175, so my guess is they will be SFO and DEN flights. Just a guess.

jsloan

That's a pretty good guess -- that's the exact service they've announced.