So UA announced they're killing the hub at CLE the other day, cutting around 70% of their regional flights. After DL de-hubbed MEM and effectively de-hubbed CVG, it's the third time a hub in the general area has been downgraded within about a year. You may remember that UA killed CLE once before, prior to the CO merger, only to kill it again this April. With WN getting the green light to fly anywhere from DAL, DL building up LGA despite low profitability and AA/US having an almost non-existent network to Asia, the unprecedented industry consolidation is really shaking things up right now.
- Which CLE routes will get re-instated by other carriers?
- Which major hub in the US is next to go?
- Will AS still be able to defend the Northwest, surrounded by the three largest airlines in the world?
- Any other thoughts?
I was reading a very interesting thread about this on airliners.net the other day, proposing to let CLE die altogether and have BKL become the primary airport for Cleveland. Let me see if I can find it...
Yup, here it is: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5985737/
An airline (no matter which one) has its reasons to downgrade their business at airport X etc.. The effects of deregulation shows her face.
Will AS still be able to defend the Northwest, surrounded by the three largest airlines in the world?
IIRC correctly, there are several rumors that Alaska Airlines could be the target of a larger US-airline. It is ironic that the general idea of deregulation was more (free) competition. Actually, a very small number of big airlines control a major perecentage of the US-domesic market at the moment and some airlines are in generally bad shape.