Airline hub: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 22:39, 5 June 2007

An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations.

Some airlines may use only a single hub, while other airlines use multiple hubs. Hubs are used for both passenger flights as well as cargo flights.

Many airlines also utilize focus cities, which function much the same as hubs, but with fewer flights. Airlines may also use secondary hubs, a non-technical term for large focus cities.

Fortress hub

A fortress hub is a hub dominated by a single airline that controls a share of flights at or above the monopoly standard of 70 percent of flights in and out of the hub.^[1] A fortress hub is difficult for new entrant carriers to penetrate.^[2] New entrants, such as Spirit Airlines at (DTW), AirTran at (ATL), and Vanguard at (DFW), allege to have been the target of exclusionary practices by the dominant carrier. Some observers argue that the existence of such hubs can stifle competition; ProAir's battle with Northwest when it briefly flew out of Detroit City Airport is often cited as an example. Northwest was able to out compete the short-lived discount carrier by matching its fares and offering more frequent flights.

Examples of fortress hubs include:

Major passenger airlines and their hubs

Oceania

Air New Zealand (NZ) uses Auckland International Airport (AKL) (and to a lesser extent Christchurch International Airport (CHC) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)).
Qantas (QF) uses Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) and Melbourne Airport (MEL) in Australia and Singapore (SIN)(and to a lesser extent Perth Airport (PER)).
National carriers from other countries use their own major (inter)national airport(s).

Interesting facts

All 30 of the busiest airports in the world serve as hubs for one or more major airlines.^{[citation needed]}
US Airways has the highest percentage of traffic for any single airline at any international airport (unconfirmed)^{[citation needed]}, occupying 72 (plus 1 shared with Lufthansa) out of 85 total gates and accounting for approximately 90% of traffic at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport^[3].

References

^ Dr. Mark N. Cooper (22 January 1999). "Freeing Public Pollicy from the Deregulation Debate: The Airline Industry Comes of Age" (.PDF). Consumer Federation of America: 10–11. Retrieved 2007-03-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ "Appendix A: Statement of Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair Exclusionary Conduct" (PDF). pp. 10–11. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
^ Source: City of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, May 2005; USAirways.com, June 2005

External links

How Airline Hubs Work

[1] Dr. Mark N. Cooper (22 January 1999). "Freeing Public Pollicy from the Deregulation Debate: The Airline Industry Comes of Age" (.PDF). Consumer Federation of America: 10–11. Retrieved 2007-03-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[2] "Appendix A: Statement of Enforcement Policy Regarding Unfair Exclusionary Conduct" (PDF). pp. 10–11. Retrieved 2007-03-28.

[3] Source: City of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, May 2005; USAirways.com, June 2005

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@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 *[[Northwest Airlines]] (NW) uses [[Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport]] (MSP), [[Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport]] (DTW), [[Memphis International Airport]] (MEM), [[Amsterdam Schiphol Airport]] (AMS), and Tokyo's [[Narita International Airport]] (NRT).
 *[[Spirit Airlines]] (NK), a [[low cost airline|low-fare airline]], uses [[Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport]] (DTW) and [[Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport]] (FLL).
-*[[Southwest Airlines]] (WN), a [[low-cost airline]], mostly runs point-to-point service, but has hub-like operations in [[Baltimore-Washington International Airport]] (BWI), [[Chicago-Midway Airport]] (MDW), [[Dallas Love Field Airport]] (DAL), [[Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport]] (PHX), and Las Vegas's [[McCarran International Airport]] (LAS).
+*[[Southwest Airlines]] (WN), a [[low-cost airline]], mostly runs point-to-point service, but has hub-like operations in [[Baltimore-Washington International Airport]] (BWI), [[Chicago Midway Airport]] (MDW), [[Dallas Love Field Airport]] (DAL), Las Vegas's [[McCarran International Airport]] (LAS) and [[Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport]] (PHX).
 *[[Sun Country Airlines]] (SY), a [[low-cost airline]] uses [[Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport]]
 *[[United Airlines]] (UA) uses [[O'Hare International Airport]] (ORD), [[San Francisco International Airport]] (SFO), [[Washington Dulles International Airport]] (IAD), [[Denver International Airport]] (DEN), [[Los Angeles International Airport]] (LAX).

Revision as of 22:39, 5 June 2007

Fortress hub

Major passenger airlines and their hubs

North America

Caribbean

Central America

South America

Europe

Africa and Middle East

Asia

Oceania

Interesting facts

See also

References

External links