XPost: rec.travel.air, alt.travel   
   From: olive@LOSETHIScalpha.com   
      
   jcoulter muttered....   
      
      
   >>   
   >   
   > But then if US doesn't value PIT it may have something to do with the   
   > economic benefit, or lack thereof, to being so heavily invsted in the   
   > PIT market. Allegheny County is right in trying to get paid, but perhaps   
   > US just doesn't need the hub.   
   >   
      
   PIT falls into the category of a "created" (not geographic) hub. used by US   
   because it was there, a focal point for substantial ops by the line, and   
   the city/airport authority/whatever were willing to provide the facilities   
   needed.   
      
   STL had been a "hub" with greater geographic significance, but TWA had been   
   involved in a death spiral for more than a decade, and the moment that the   
   city was no longer the corporate base for an airline, its geographic   
   benefits became redundant, providing no advantage for either UA or AA.  The   
   only real hope for AA basing/hub ops was destroyed by 9/11 (but might have   
   already been on its death bed with any economic downturn and decline in air   
   travel).  There's simply not enough locally generated traffic in/out of the   
   area to support major service and fleet/crew basing.   
      
   For DL, DFW is a hub based on geographic significance, while the venture in   
   Northern Kaintuck is an artificially created (with cost benefit   
   attractions) hub serving a small geographic region augmented by what must   
   be "cheap to operate" international flights.   
      
   Some of the coastal city "hubs" are not hubs at all, and ought more   
   properly be called "Destination focus/Linear transit points", pretty well   
   describing ancient LaGuardia, a dismal dump for which NYC and its Port and   
   Transit Authorities should never be forgiven.  To have failed after all   
   these years to provide "convenient/workable" links to Midtown and JFK   
   represents an unforgivable omission by one of the world's most visited (of   
   necessity - especially by business travelers in search of dependable, quick   
   and easy transit during brief visits - and pleasure) cities. In emergency,   
   I can manage a "same day" business trip to DC or Chicago, but even with a   
   car and driver, for me a ridiculous expense, NYC won't work.   
      
   LA's a different kettle of fish, where few travelers go "downtown" and it's   
   possible to some extent to play the game "pick an airport" convenient to an   
   address or area.   
      
   As busy as Denver can be, it has always (at least to me) seemed a more   
   artificially created hubs than ORD, DFW or ATL, although the vast   
   population and travel  growth in Colorado provides it with "stand alone"   
   legs (and I've never understood why WN and/or HP have never tried to   
   develop the potential of Colorado Springs.  For WN, the skinny panhandle of   
   Oklahoma and the Wright Amendment prevented direct service from DAL, but I   
   suspect a pretty good case could be made for either HOU or IAH flights into   
   the Springs),   
      
   TMO   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)