US Metros by flight passengers

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by craigs

I flew Avelo from its primary Western hub at Burbank up to Medford, OR last summer. It was quite the bargain, and the experience was basically 'off-brand Southwestern.' I didn't realize there was going to be a connection between New Haven and Midway--I hope they'll connect Burbank with Midway as well!

Right now avelo is quite small (they only have 11 737s), and they are concentrating on building an east coast network highly focused on new haven and Florida and a west coast network built around Burbank.



Source: https://www.aveloair.com/destinations




But if they should ever start making more inroads into the interior for more of a coast to coast network, Burbank to Midway might be a good route to start with.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I could've sworn Avelo did a brief trial run of flights between Burbank and Mesa/Gateway (AZA) but that was either right before or during the pandemic.

[InTheBurbs]

Originally Posted by plinko

I seem to recall that CMH (Columbus) was at least a focus city if not a hub for America West for a time.

It was. I flew PHX-BOS through Columbus a number of times.

[edale]

Originally Posted by InTheBurbs

It was. I flew PHX-BOS through Columbus a number of times.

That surprises me. I'd occasionally fly in/out of Columbus during the waning years of the CVG Delta hub when flying out of CVG was absurdly expensive, and I always thought Port Columbus was a tiny backwater of an airport. Hard to believe they were any sort of hub. It literally felt akin to Dayton's airport. I think they've since made some sizable investments, and are maybe even planning a new terminal. But back in the day, it was really small and lackluster.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Right now avelo is quite small (they only have 11 737s), and they are concentrating on building an east coast network highly focused on new haven and Florida and a west coast network built around Burbank.



Source: https://www.aveloair.com/destinations




But if they should ever start making more inroads into the interior for more of a coast to coast network, Burbank to Midway might be a good route to start with.

I got a ticket on Avelo yesterday from New Haven - BWI for $6! Taxes are $15. If you rent a Capitol Bikeshare bike for the day, it would cost more than $6.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

going back to my earlier post about why i think STL should be higher.

below is a map of the 29 busiest airports in the nation (what the FAA deems as "major hubs") by passenger counts.

the big red oval in the middle of the country has none, and pretty damn close to the center of that oval is none other than STL.

TWA knew about it.

Yep, it is interesting that at one time not to long ago that mid-central hubs like St.Louis, Memphis, and Cincinnati all were hubs at one time or another. You would think that they, along with Louisville and Nashville, would warrant higher numbers then their metros would warrant. Out of all those the only one I think we can expect steady growth and a re-emergence into a major hub in the future is Nashville (which it already is somewhat for Southwest).

[ChiSoxRox]

Originally Posted by nomarandlee

Yep, it is interesting that at one time not to long ago that mid-central hubs like St.Louis, Memphis, and Cinnciannit all were hubs at one time or another. You would think that they, alongg with Louisville and Nashville, would warrant higher numbers then their Metros would warrant. Out of all those the only one I think we can expect steady growth and a reemergence into a major hub in the future is Nashville (which it already does? for Southwest I think).

At least Memphis (Fedex), Louisville (UPS), and increasingly Cincinnati (Amazon) are massive cargo hubs due to their central locations.

The top ten cargo airports in the world last year (and the pandemic barely affected cargo traffic):

1. Hong Kong
2. Memphis
3. Shanghai-Pudong
4. Anchorage
5. Incheon-Seoul
6. Louisville
7. Taipei-Taoyuan
8. LAX
9. Tokyo-Narita
10. Doha

(For why Anchorage is so high, look at a globe or Google Earth. Equidistant to Asia, the Lower 48, and Europe over the pole.)

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Right now avelo is quite small (they only have 11 737s), and they are concentrating on building an east coast network highly focused on new haven and Florida and a west coast network built around Burbank.



Source: https://www.aveloair.com/destinations




But if they should ever start making more inroads into the interior for more of a coast to coast network, Burbank to Midway might be a good route to start with.

I'll try them out next time I go to LA and it would be cool to see Santa Rosa become the bay area's 4th major/international airport.

[JMKeynes]

New York dominates every list once again!

[tech12]

Originally Posted by TWAK

it would be cool to see Santa Rosa become the bay area's 4th major/international airport.

I guess it's already the 4th busiest airport by number of passengers, though it's tiny compared to SFO, OAK, or SJC. They're currently putting the finishing touches on a new expanded terminal too.

Bay Area airport passenger stats, 2019:

SFO - 57,488,023
SJC - 15,650,444
OAK - 12,371,000
STS - 476,000

SFO and SJC stats are from wikipedia, OAK and STS are from here: https://www.transtats.bts.gov/airports.asp

edit: that link I posted above has different stats for SFO and SJC than Wikipedia does. Around 41 million for SF and 14.5 million for SJ.