Southwest Keen On Charlotte But Won't Give A Time

[sfb]

That will happen in any hub that has more than one destination.

Really? So if Southwest ended its DAL-SAT flights, it would also get rid of its DAL-AUS flights because they could no longer count on SAT-DAL-AUS passengers? I doubt it.

You're missing the point. Probably half of the destinations served by AA from BNA (just like US Express from PIT) saw so few passengers beginning or ending their trips at BNA that the loss was negligible to the folks in Nashville. And when I say "so few," I mean fewer than ten per day.

How many people fly from HOU to CRP, compared to DAL? How many people fly from DAL to MAF, compared to MSY? Southwest isn't going to cancel CRP and MAF just because they supply fewer passengers. If you cancel destinations just because they aren't the most popular, you will end up with just one route.

Again, you're missing the point. HOU-CRP (300+ passengers/day) and DAL-MAF (500 passengers/day) have enough demand to justify service on their own merits. Offering connections at HOU, DAL, or MAF improves the economics in order to be able to offer more daily flights on 737's. Few, if any, people would fly BNA-SDF/PAH/TYS/CHA since it's faster to just drive.

 

[JS]

Really? So if Southwest ended its DAL-SAT flights, it would also get rid of its DAL-AUS flights because they could no longer count on SAT-DAL-AUS passengers? I doubt it.

You're missing the point. Probably half of the destinations served by AA from BNA (just like US Express from PIT) saw so few passengers beginning or ending their trips at BNA that the loss was negligible to the folks in Nashville. And when I say "so few," I mean fewer than ten per day.

I was talking about O&D. My point was that if Southwest cut the least popular flights from DAL, they would cut MAF, then SAT, then AUS (just guessing on the order here), and eventually nothing would be left but HOU. I wasn't comparing flying to driving or connecting passengers, just trying to counter the idea that only the most popular markets should be retained, as the definition of "popular" is relative.

Again, you're missing the point. HOU-CRP (300+ passengers/day) and DAL-MAF (500 passengers/day) have enough demand to justify service on their own merits. Offering connections at HOU, DAL, or MAF improves the economics in order to be able to offer more daily flights on 737's. Few, if any, people would fly BNA-SDF/PAH/TYS/CHA since it's faster to just drive.

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What is the point of this discussion? AA no longer operates a hub at BNA or RDU. I guess they didn't see the need when they already have a huge hub in DFW and ORD. CLT is US' sole good hub. Closing it down would be as stupid as AA closing down DFW.

 

[sfb]

I was talking about O&D. My point was that if Southwest cut the least popular flights from DAL, they would cut MAF, then SAT, then AUS (just guessing on the order here), and eventually nothing would be left but HOU. I wasn't comparing flying to driving or connecting passengers, just trying to counter the idea that only the most popular markets should be retained, as the definition of "popular" is relative.

My original reply was to an assertion that BNA lost "hundreds" of non-stop destinations when AA pulled its hub, implying that Nashville was worse off; my response is that, essentially, most of the destinations with meaningful traffic still have service and the majority of cities which used to have flights to BNA and do not anymore really didn't have the O&D traffic to justify it in the first place.

What is the point of this discussion? AA no longer operates a hub at BNA or RDU. I guess they didn't see the need when they already have a huge hub in DFW and ORD. CLT is US' sole good hub. Closing it down would be as stupid as AA closing down DFW.

The point is not that US should close CLT as a hub; it is that should US fail, a replacement operation at CLT akin to WN's at BNA would preserve most of the destinations travelled to by folks in Charlotte. They really wouldn't miss the flights to RDU, GSO, CAE, GSP, FLO, PGV, EWN, AVL, etc.