American Airlines believes its core hub strategy and the connectivity it offers will provide the carrier with a competitive advantage as the airline industry emerges from the crisis. In an exclusive interview with Simple Flying last week, the airline’s Chief Revenue Officer said the system’s strength and resiliency are due to the carrier’s non-dogmatic approach.
American Airlines has a well-developed hub ecosystem all across the United States. The carrier’s (unofficial) primary hub is located in Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), along with its headquarters.
However, American also operates hubs at Charlotte (CLT), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York-John F Kennedy (JFK), New York-LaGuardia (LGA), Philadelphia (PHL), Phoenix (PHX), and Washington DC. National (DCA).
Under normal circumstances, the airline carries nearly 200,000,000 plus passengers through its ten hubs. Of course, the entire system has been tested to its limits, as has all of aviation throughout the past year. Meanwhile, some of American’s hubs have fared remarkably well throughout the pandemic. Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte, in particular, have proven exceptionally resilient.
Access to the global marketplace
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Simple Flying’s Jay Singh last week, American Airlines’ Chief Revenue Officer, Vasu Raja, commented on the successes of the airline’s hub network – and why it functions as well as it does. Speaking to the particular relationship between DFW and Charlotte, Mr Raja added,
“We offer you more connections. We offer a customer in Birmingham and Nashville, in Austin, in New Orleans, more access to the global marketplace than anybody else does. And that’s just between those two hubs. Then when you start adding in Miami, and Phoenix, and Chicago, and Philadelphia… American Airlines may have 35 to 40 flights…