Oklahoma Commercial Aviation Discussion 2013

[venture]

I'm still tweaking the numbers to find a happy medium (since system CASM doesn't really translate well to single route CASM). Here is an early look of where Kansas City via Southwest was operating at for January...

DIRECT	CITY	CARRIER	MO	YR	FLTS_PL	FLTS_AC	SEATS	PAX	LF	MKT_SHR	AVG_FARE	DIST	CASM	FUEL_EST	COST	REV_EST	EST_PL
Origin	Kansas City	Southwest	1	2013	58	58	8032	2737	34%	97.30%	$ 146.65	313	$ 0.0826	$ 0.0500	$ 466,701.93	$ 401,381.05	$ (65,320.88)

[venture]

Expect some changes to the American schedule starting in August. Parker's team released today that they are scrapping the "rolling hub" strategy that American has used and going back to banked hubs. The Ex-US hubs (PHL/CLT/PHX) are already banked so this will mainly impact DFW, ORD, and MIA.

[ljbab728]

Expect some changes to the American schedule starting in August. Parker's team released today that they are scrapping the "rolling hub" strategy that American has used and going back to banked hubs. The Ex-US hubs (PHL/CLT/PHX) are already banked so this will mainly impact DFW, ORD, and MIA.

It may not be related to the merger but AA has had an avalanche of schedule changes during the last 10 days. Some of the changes have been significant.

[rayhurst]

Expect some changes to the American schedule starting in August. Parker's team released today that they are scrapping the "rolling hub" strategy that American has used and going back to banked hubs. The Ex-US hubs (PHL/CLT/PHX) are already banked so this will mainly impact DFW, ORD, and MIA.

For us laymen, can you explain the difference between a "rolling hub" and a "banked hub" and how it might affect OKC?

[no1cub17]

It may not be related to the merger but AA has had an avalanche of schedule changes during the last 10 days. Some of the changes have been significant.

Do you mind sharing?

[no1cub17]

For us laymen, can you explain the difference between a "rolling hub" and a "banked hub" and how it might affect OKC?

Banked hubs are structured this way: xxx-DFW (1-2 hour gap during which terminals are packed, airport is busy), then DFW-xxx. So inbound flights are coordinated to arrive around the same time, then the outbounds. This allows airlines to maximize connectivity through a hub. Rolling hubs don't have as coordinated an inbound-outbound schedule, so connecting times can be staggered throughout the day. From what I understand this works better at congested hubs like ORD where gate space is at a premium. But then again I think DFW is also considered a rolling hub - but that may be because AA has the gates and slots to maximize frequencies to wherever they want.

[venture]

Banked hubs are structured this way: xxx-DFW (1-2 hour gap during which terminals are packed, airport is busy), then DFW-xxx. So inbound flights are coordinated to arrive around the same time, then the outbounds. This allows airlines to maximize connectivity through a hub. Rolling hubs don't have as coordinated an inbound-outbound schedule, so connecting times can be staggered throughout the day. From what I understand this works better at congested hubs like ORD where gate space is at a premium. But then again I think DFW is also considered a rolling hub - but that may be because AA has the gates and slots to maximize frequencies to wherever they want.

Nailed it. Yes...DFW is also a rolling hub still, even though frequencies are pretty high to quite a few destinations. It'll be interesting to see what happens at ORD, even though they still have delays as soon as a cloud appears.

[ljbab728]

Do you mind sharing?

That isn't possible. That was my observation based on the many changes they sent to me for a multitude of customers. I don't have a list of all of the changes, but trust me, it was a lot. The biggest problem is that they use computers to advise of schedule changes to existing reservations and, many times, it can results in missed connections or extremely long layovers when other more logical schedules are available. It is a real headache because each one must be corrected with a call to the airline.