Pittsburgh Given Little Chance

[USA320Pilot]

Pittsburgh given little chance of regaining its status as hub

Today the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported aviation consultant Mike Boyd and others speculated the combined airline may have to find another airport or even a hub to better coordinate East-West flow, but Boyd said Pittsburgh is too far east to be considered and that St. Louis or Kansas City are more likely prospects.

Another aviation consultant, Terry Trippler, said Pittsburgh does have some potential as a hub if the new airline decides to add another, but said St. Louis and Kansas City also would likely get serious consideration.

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Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[ClueByFour]

The St. Louis hub will be home to the largest fleet of "competitive LCC response" aircraft in the world--the E-170. It worked so well in PHL, we'll try it in a new hub with less O&D and an existing (instead of new) LUV presence!

The odds of US/HP (or any other legacy) going into a focus city of the strongest and largest remaining legacy that also has 50+ WN flights/day and making a hub work are roughly the same as, well, US shifting hub operations from PHL to PIT. Won't happen.

And that's one of the key reasons why this particular merger does not work. Much the same reasons that US-PSA tanked--nothing in the middle.