Is the current [airport] hub-and-spoke system [for air-carrier operations] flawed?
I don’t think I can say it’s collapsing, but we’re seeing the hub-and-spoke system [erode] because the economics of operating it are beginning to be much less attractive. Q: Are you seeing it eroding globally or just in Europe? Because in the U.S. there’s a fight by the large carriers to preserve their hub dominance. A: People who have invested millions and millions of dollars will want to try to preserve the investment, but it is being fragmented by deregulation and new aircraft types [such as regional jets], which can offer point-to-point service between cities. We’re doing, with long-haul equipment, what Southwest Airlines is doing here in the domestic U.S. market. If you want to go from point A to B, you want to go from A to B. You don’t want to go from A to B via C, with an inconvenient change. So if [you can] actually give customers what they want, rather than what they don’t want, even if it’s slightly more expensive, there’s quite a high chance they’ll buy it. Once you establis
