Airline hub
This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in which there are no hubs and nonstop flights are instead offered between spoke cities.
[3][6] However, it requires having to regularly make connections en route to their final destination, which increases travel time.
[8] However, an airline must assemble many resources to cater to the influx of flights during a bank, and having several aircraft on the ground at the same time can lead to congestion and delays.
Delta Air Lines was the first to implement such a system, providing service to remote spoke cities from its Atlanta hub.
[3] In 1974, the governments of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates took control of Gulf Air from the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
It linked Oman, Qatar and the UAE to its Bahrain hub, from which it offered flights to destinations throughout Europe and Asia.
Sheikh Mohammed proceeded to establish a new airline based in Dubai, Emirates, which launched operations in 1985.
The hubs, which benefit from their proximity to large population centres,[15] have become popular stopover points on trips between Europe and Asia, for example.
[16] Their rapid growth has impacted the development of traditional hubs, such as London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and New York-JFK.
In Europe, ASL Airlines, Cargolux and DHL Aviation follow a similar strategy and operate their primary hubs at Liège, Luxembourg and Leipzig respectively.
[19] Additionally, Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, is a frequent stop-over hub for many cargo airlines flying between Asia and North America.
[21] In past, Air India operated a scissor hub at London's Heathrow Airport, where passengers from Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai could continue onto a flight to Newark.
[22] Until its grounding, Jet Airways operated a similar scissor hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to transport passengers from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi to Toronto-Pearson and vice versa.
WestJet used to utilize St. John's as a scissor hub during its summer schedule for flights inbound from Ottawa, Toronto, and Orlando and outbound to Dublin and London–Gatwick.
Qantas similarly used to utilize Los Angeles International Airport as a scissor hub for flights inbound from Melbourne, Brisbane or Sydney, where passengers could connect onwards if traveling to New York–JFK.
[30] Flag carriers have historically enjoyed similar dominance at the main international airport of their countries and some still do.
The most notable was America West's use of McCarran International Airport (now named after longtime Nevada Senator Harry Reid) in Las Vegas as a primary night-flight hub to increase aircraft utilization rates far beyond those of competing carriers.
