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The "hub" model is disappearing; customers travel to the supposed hub via other methods (car, train) or they take direct flights. The super jumbo planes like th

The "hub" model is disappearing; customers travel to the supposed hub via other methods (car, train) or they take direct flights. The super jumbo planes like the 747 rely on hubs for passenger density so it shouldn't be any surprise that most airlines aren't interested. Having more smaller planes lets you do more direct flights and gives you way more flexibility should you need to change destinations, lease an empty plane to someone else, etc. It also costs you less in fuel when you need to fly it with few or no passengers. Of course getting _any_ new plane means a years-long backlog right now so the newest trend is to acquire a regional or small airline and dismantle it purely to get the airplanes. Virgin America (by Alaska) and Spirit (by JetBlue) were victims of that strategy and won't be the last.

ho_schi 4y ago
Hubs are not disappearing. NWR, JFK, FRA, CDG, LHR, LAX and so on are hubs and major destinations, served with long range, high capacity wide body planes. The middle-east airports are a special case, they are mostly hubs and the business relies on being a hub and not being the destination. This is why Emirates already asks for a A380 successor. Bonus, the airlines need only one slot and one crew to fly a plane from/to this hubs instead of multiple planes. And with four engines you get a bigger safety margin in case of "bad things happen". And as you write, smaller planes better serving less loaded destinations, it allows airlines to fit customer demand. As you said. Better fly four times the week than just two times and lose half of the passenger to a competitor. And yes, they need to maintain only two engines. The 777X is therefore an interesting design decision. Really big, only two very powerful engines and they need to handle the extra complexity and maintenance of folding wingtips. Just to fit the plane into smaller airports. The biggest change so far is engine power, efficiency and reliability. Passenger and freight demands are changing even more frequently. And airports often cannot grow and even if - only slowly.

ho_schi 4y ago

Hubs are not disappearing. NWR, JFK, FRA, CDG, LHR, LAX and so on are hubs and major destinations, served with long range, high capacity wide body planes. The middle-east airports are a special case, they are mostly hubs and the business relies on being a hub and not being the destination. This is why Emirates already asks for a A380 successor. Bonus, the airlines need only one slot and one crew to fly a plane from/to this hubs instead of multiple planes. And with four engines you get a bigger safety margin in case of "bad things happen". And as you write, smaller planes better serving less loaded destinations, it allows airlines to fit customer demand. As you said. Better fly four times the week than just two times and lose half of the passenger to a competitor. And yes, they need to maintain only two engines. The 777X is therefore an interesting design decision. Really big, only two very powerful engines and they need to handle the extra complexity and maintenance of folding wingtips. Just to fit the plane into smaller airports. The biggest change so far is engine power, efficiency and reliability. Passenger and freight demands are changing even more frequently. And airports often cannot grow and even if - only slowly.