jetpig32
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Who's going to do it?
By Ben Mutzabaugh, USATODAY.com
You've heard of an airline hub, but how about a hublet?
As of today, there's at least one. It's in San Antonio, where United Airlines dramatically beefs up service today by starting non-stop service on six new routes: Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Kansas City (Mo.), Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Omaha.
The carrier also recently added new non-stop service between San Antonio and New Orleans, giving it seven new destinations from the Texas city since Feb. 23.
With the additions, the nation's No. 2 carrier now has 12 non-stop destinations from San Antonio, giving United more non-stop options out of San Antonio than any of its other cities except for its five hubs (Chicago O'Hare, Denver, San Francisco, Washington Dulles and Los Angeles). Most of the new flights - and all to United's non-hub cities - will be operated by United Express partners like Mesa, Trans States or SkyWest.
United's build-up in San Antonio has airline spokeswoman Robin Urbanski referring to the city as a "hublet" in the carrier's overall route network.
That's not the official term used by United for its San Antonio presence, but Urbanski did confirm that San Antonio has become a focus city for the carrier - elevating it to a position in United's route network that's surpassed only by the airline's hubs.
"Hublet...focus city...whatever the term, as long as we keep getting new non-stops we're happy," says San Antonio spokesman David Hebert. " We've seen United Airlines jump from two non-stop destinations from San Antonio to twelve in a fairly short period of time. So as long as that type of commitment is there they get free reign on the phrasing."
Urbanski says that San Antonio's emergence as a focus city was largely accidental.
Prior to 2005, the airline already served the city from its hubs at both Chicago O'Hare and Denver. Then in April 2005, the airline added non-stop service to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Demand was strong, which helped bring the addition of Washington Dulles flights in December.
Even with three new routes added in 2005, United officials noticed bookings from San Antonio remained unusually strong. That got the airline thinking that the market might be big enough to support additional non-stop options.
That led to the seven new routes, culminated by United's six new routes that begin today.
"San Antonio is in a truly unique situation," Urbanski says of United's rapid build-up there.
And Urbanski suggests that San Antonio may have been overlooked by other carriers, despite its rapidly growing size.
Metropolitan San Antonio is ranked as the nation's 30th-biggest metro according to the 2000 U.S. Census. According to those numbers, San Antonio is more populous than metro areas like Charlotte, Salt Lake City and Memphis - all of which are home to major airline hubs.
"On top of being a key business and wonderful leisure city, it has long been overlooked as being a hub or focus city," Urbanski says.
Still, despite the focus-city status, don't expect your next United flight to give you a San Antonio connection. Urbanski says the San Antonio flights were meant to be profitable on a point-to-point basis, adding any connections routed through the city would be "coincidental."
Connecting flights or not, San Antonio officials are pleased with the flight expansion.
"We were thrilled with United's growth plans," says Hebert. Even after adding so much new service in 2005, "they came right back in 2006 and began seven non-stop routes. And six were to brand new non-stop destinations. We were ecstatic."
And United's San Antonio expansion could bode well for the airport's future.
San Antonio set an all-time passenger record in 2005, with 7,425,281 fliers using the airport - breaking the previous 2000 record by more than 100,000.
United's recent flights also give San Antonio record-breaking total of 38 non-stop destinations, perhaps signaling that the airport could see a new passenger record in 2006.
And Hebert is hopeful that United's presence could grow even further at the airport in the near future.
"We're getting the sense that if things go well (with the new flights), the partnership with United could get bigger and bigger," he says.
By Ben Mutzabaugh, USATODAY.com
You've heard of an airline hub, but how about a hublet?
As of today, there's at least one. It's in San Antonio, where United Airlines dramatically beefs up service today by starting non-stop service on six new routes: Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Kansas City (Mo.), Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Omaha.
The carrier also recently added new non-stop service between San Antonio and New Orleans, giving it seven new destinations from the Texas city since Feb. 23.
With the additions, the nation's No. 2 carrier now has 12 non-stop destinations from San Antonio, giving United more non-stop options out of San Antonio than any of its other cities except for its five hubs (Chicago O'Hare, Denver, San Francisco, Washington Dulles and Los Angeles). Most of the new flights - and all to United's non-hub cities - will be operated by United Express partners like Mesa, Trans States or SkyWest.
United's build-up in San Antonio has airline spokeswoman Robin Urbanski referring to the city as a "hublet" in the carrier's overall route network.
That's not the official term used by United for its San Antonio presence, but Urbanski did confirm that San Antonio has become a focus city for the carrier - elevating it to a position in United's route network that's surpassed only by the airline's hubs.
"Hublet...focus city...whatever the term, as long as we keep getting new non-stops we're happy," says San Antonio spokesman David Hebert. " We've seen United Airlines jump from two non-stop destinations from San Antonio to twelve in a fairly short period of time. So as long as that type of commitment is there they get free reign on the phrasing."
Urbanski says that San Antonio's emergence as a focus city was largely accidental.
Prior to 2005, the airline already served the city from its hubs at both Chicago O'Hare and Denver. Then in April 2005, the airline added non-stop service to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Demand was strong, which helped bring the addition of Washington Dulles flights in December.
Even with three new routes added in 2005, United officials noticed bookings from San Antonio remained unusually strong. That got the airline thinking that the market might be big enough to support additional non-stop options.
That led to the seven new routes, culminated by United's six new routes that begin today.
"San Antonio is in a truly unique situation," Urbanski says of United's rapid build-up there.
And Urbanski suggests that San Antonio may have been overlooked by other carriers, despite its rapidly growing size.
Metropolitan San Antonio is ranked as the nation's 30th-biggest metro according to the 2000 U.S. Census. According to those numbers, San Antonio is more populous than metro areas like Charlotte, Salt Lake City and Memphis - all of which are home to major airline hubs.
"On top of being a key business and wonderful leisure city, it has long been overlooked as being a hub or focus city," Urbanski says.
Still, despite the focus-city status, don't expect your next United flight to give you a San Antonio connection. Urbanski says the San Antonio flights were meant to be profitable on a point-to-point basis, adding any connections routed through the city would be "coincidental."
Connecting flights or not, San Antonio officials are pleased with the flight expansion.
"We were thrilled with United's growth plans," says Hebert. Even after adding so much new service in 2005, "they came right back in 2006 and began seven non-stop routes. And six were to brand new non-stop destinations. We were ecstatic."
And United's San Antonio expansion could bode well for the airport's future.
San Antonio set an all-time passenger record in 2005, with 7,425,281 fliers using the airport - breaking the previous 2000 record by more than 100,000.
United's recent flights also give San Antonio record-breaking total of 38 non-stop destinations, perhaps signaling that the airport could see a new passenger record in 2006.
And Hebert is hopeful that United's presence could grow even further at the airport in the near future.
"We're getting the sense that if things go well (with the new flights), the partnership with United could get bigger and bigger," he says.
