This company has lost more passengers and marketshare in small stations than they realize. A good portion of the ABE traffic has been lost to CO at EWR, but I guess who really needs all of those pesky passengers anyway. This discussion started about one city, but relates to many around the system.
This is what I have seen happen at AVP over the past 5 or 6 years:
US charges an exorbitant premium to fly out of AVP. People with some semblance of loyalty (i.e. lots of US miles and no other frequent flyer accounts) who otherwise would be willing to pay a modest premium to fly out of a small local airport begin driving to PHL to fly on US.
US sees the passenger loads out of AVP drop, assumes there is "no market," and slowly pick off the mainline flights to PIT and PHL.
The pax who have been driving to PHL to fly nonstop on US discover a world of possibilities on other airlines, further negating the possibility that they will choose US during those times when prices temporarily drop for all airlines out of AVP.
US sees the passenger loads out of AVP continue to drop, assumes there still is "no market," and continues to pick off the mainline flights.
The no-longer-loyal former customers who have now discovered CO begin driving to EWR for nonstops on an airline with better service.
US sees the passenger loads out of AVP continue their downward spiral, assumes there is still no market, cancels all mainline service out of AVP, cancels service to PIT out of AVP, and forces most connections through PHL.
Repeat process at ABE and MDT.
The reality is that the past few years have seen DL, UA and NW penetrate the AVP market as US's service has decreased commensurately. Obviously there
is a market for
reasonable premiums over nonstop flights from hub airports, and CO, DL, UA & NW are penetrating it. Now when I fly to AVP and people ask me what airline I flew, almost inevitably the reaction is "Oh, I refuse to fly them anymore."