When choosing locations of hubs, it is common to choose the largest airports in the country.
However, I have been more successful in hubs with almost entirely connecting traffic, as follows:
3367
It seems that the advantages of a smaller hub outweighs the lost of direct traffic, with the following arguments:
1. Shorter minimal connection at 45-60min vs. 75-90min at a larger airport. This means more competitive connections.
2. Much faster turnaround enables higher ulitilization. 30/40min turnaround for narrowbodies at small/medium airport vs 60min at large airport.
3. No competition for slots. Even small airports tend to have less slots, but being the only airline at the airport means one typically have more slots available to himself, and the ability to swap slots easily. This is especially helpful to arrange flights into congested airports. (e.g. HKG/LHR/JFK)
Oh yes, Ive seen airlines based out of Manston (1 bar in the UK 45min connection time) and london city, basel, milan linate etc etc its a fantastic way to beat the bigger airlines.
4 issues for me though:
Low AGEX use to cripple me when I had an airline based out of a smaller airport as you dont have the O&D to cover some of the loss and PAX use direct routes. Base yourself out of a 8/9/10 bar airport you never get that issue.
Prices, you have to maintain a slightly lower price than you could otherwise do to get the ORS rating to max which eats into profits.
Smaller airports have less slots, so less chances of expanding and if you are based in a large market like USA, Europe, China etc, another player can just eat up your slots once you become a threat.
I always end up moving over to a bigger airport when the time comes.
Oh yes, Ive seen airlines based out of Manston (1 bar in the UK 45min connection time) and london city, basel, milan linate etc etc its a fantastic way to beat the bigger airlines.
4 issues for me though:
Low AGEX use to cripple me when I had an airline based out of a smaller airport as you dont have the O&D to cover some of the loss and PAX use direct routes. Base yourself out of a 8/9/10 bar airport you never get that issue.
Prices, you have to maintain a slightly lower price than you could otherwise do to get the ORS rating to max which eats into profits.
Smaller airports have less slots, so less chances of expanding and if you are based in a large market like USA, Europe, China etc, another player can just eat up your slots once you become a threat.
I always end up moving over to a bigger airport when the time comes.
It is rather unfortunate to base in UK for this purpose :mellow: In Germany, you have HAJ with 9 slots and no nighttime restriction. In USA, there are several 9/10 bar slot small airports in the south and 8 bar slot airports in the midwest.
Based on my experience, it is not true that you will not suffer at high demand airport. Indeed, with low AGEX, many airlines keeps flights at high demand airport at loss just for occupying slots.
That’s why it’s a good idea to build your network in times of low AGEX. Also do not forget about network integrity, there is a very thin line between cancelling unprofitable flights and breaking network integrity.
