USA Airline Hubs

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#1

So apparently some people are getting a little confused over which airline to use when flying over America. I would know this, because there is that one random person that flies RyanAir from KJFK to KLAX.

Rest assured, I will complete this mini-guide to help y’all that seem to have a little trouble with it. I’m American, and I can’t figure out the airports that support Norwegian Airlines. (pls help)

I will go through every major airport in the United States and list the airlines that have placed a hub there, a focus city, or represents the majority of passenger traffic. East to West.

KBOS (Boston)

  • JetBlue FOCUS
  • Delta HUB
  • American
    KBDL (Hartford)
  • JetBlue
  • Southwest
    KEWR (Newark)
  • United HUB
  • JetBlue
    KLGA (LaGuardia)
  • Delta HUB
  • American
  • JetBlue
  • Southwest
    KJFK (New York)
  • JetBlue FOCUS
  • Delta HUB
  • American
    UNITED AND SOUTHWEST DON’T FLY TO JFK
    KPHL (Philadelphia)
  • American HUB
  • Frontier
    KBWI (Baltimore)
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • Spirit FOCUS
    KDCA (Reagan National)
  • American HUB
  • Delta HUB
  • Southwest
    KIAD (Dulles)
  • United HUB
    KRDU (Raleigh)
  • Delta
  • American
    KCLT (Charlotte)
  • American HUB
    KATL (Atlanta)
  • Delta HUB
  • Southwest
    KJAX (Jacksonville)
  • JetBlue
    KMCO (Orlando)
  • JetBlue FOCUS
  • Frontier HUB
  • Southwest FOCUS
    KTPA (Tampa)
  • JetBlue FOCUS
  • Southwest
    KPIE (St. Petersburg)
  • Allegiant HUB
    ONLY ALLEGIANT FLIES TO KPIE
    KFLL (Fort Lauderdale)
  • JetBlue FOCUS
  • Southwest FOCUS
    KMIA (Miami)
  • American HUB
    KBNA (Nashville)
  • Southwest FOCUS
    KCLE (Cleveland)
  • United
  • Frontier
  • Spirit
    KCVG (Cincinnati)
  • Delta HUB
  • Frontier HUB
    KDTW (Detroit)
  • Delta HUB
  • Spirit FOCUS
    KIND (Indianapolis)
  • Allegiant FOCUS
  • Delta
    KMSY (New Orleans)
  • Allegiant
  • Spirit
    KMEM (Memphis)
  • FedEx HUB
    KORD (O’hare)
  • United HUB
  • American HUB
  • Frontier HUB
  • Spirit FOCUS
    SOUTHWEST DOESN’T FLY TO OHARE
    KMDW (Midway)
  • Southwest FOCUS
    AMERICAN AND UNITED DON’T FLY TO MIDWAY
    KMSP (Minneapolis)
  • Delta HUB
  • Sun Country HUB
    KSTL (St. Louis)
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • American
    KMCI (Kansas City)
  • Southwest
  • Frontier
  • Spirit
    KDFW (Dallas Ft. Worth)
  • American HUB
  • Spirit
    KDAL (Dallas Love)
  • Southwest FOCUS
    KIAH (Houston Bush)
  • United HUB
  • Spirit FOCUS
    KHOU (Houston Hobby)
  • Southwest FOCUS
    KSAT (San Antonio)
  • Frontier
    KDEN (Denver)
  • United HUB
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • Frontier HUB
    KSLC (Salt Lake City)
  • Delta HUB
  • Frontier
    KPHX (Phoenix)
  • American HUB
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • Frontier
    KLAS (Las Vegas)
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • Allegiant HUB
  • Spirit FOCUS
  • Frontier
    KSAN (San Diego)
  • Southwest FOCUS
  • Alaska HUB
    KLAX (Los Angeles)
  • Delta HUB
  • American HUB
  • United HUB
  • Alaska
  • Southwest
    KSFO (San Francisco)
  • United HUB
  • Alaska HUB
  • Southwest
  • American
    KSJC (San Jose)
  • Alaska HUB
  • Southwest
    KPDX (Portland)
  • Alaska HUB
  • Delta
    KSMF (Sacramento)
  • Alaska
  • Southwest
    KSEA (Seattle)
  • Alaska HUB
  • Delta HUB
    PHNL (Honolulu)
  • Hawaiian HUB
    PANC (Anchorage)
  • Alaska HUB

If I used all caps, that means I am triggered about the situation unfolding right in front of my eyes.

Hope this helps some of you!!
If you have a question about an American airport that I didn’t list, don’t hesitate to ask me.

EDIT: Changed some information regarding Southwest Airlines, Spirit and JetBlue.

10 Likes
#2

Umm, the managing XXXX airport series has been shut down by the admins, I will let you know that now.

#3
  • List item
    United Airline and Southwest Airlines can fly to New York KJFK
    Southwest Airline can Flight to Miami
    Southwest Airline can Flight to KORD
    American Airlines and United Airline can Flight to KMDW
1 Like
#4

Yes, Southwest can fly to Miami but not on a regularly scheduled flight, Miami is an expensive airport to fly in and out of, landings slots, gate costs, etc etc. So they choose to fly to the smaller and cheaper KFLL some 20-30 miles north. ;)

2 Likes
#5

Because they have an entire terminal at KEWR and they operate a few flights out of KLGA

#6

Umm… Spirit and Frontier sure as hell don’t have a hub in Chicago… Also KJFK is considered an American hub, Boston is considered a focus city by Delta. I believe, there are other inconsistencies but J suggest you check this a little.

1 Like
#7

KPIT is a hub for Sun Air Express! Let’s hear it for the Sun Air!

Sum what more importantly we are a focus city for Allegiant and OneJet…

1 Like
#8

Allegiant Airline base in Las Vegas

#9

I didn’t say we were their primary place…

#10

Southwest, Jetblue, and Spirit do not have Hubs. They use focus cities which may appear as hubs but are not in fact hubs. This is because they do not use the hub and spoke model and aircraft are not based at any airport just that most of their pilots are based out of there. This doesnt match the traditional hub and spoke system where an aircraft flies to a non hub airport and returns back to the hub, unless the destination airport is another hub for that airline in which case the flight is a aircraft movement flight mainly. Focus cities are just cities where there is a high presence like a hub, but the aircraft do not return to that hub afterwards.

8 Likes
#11

Wow. Surprised someone caught onto that. Nice observation!

7 Likes
#12

That’s what I thought, but I was too lazy to double check… 😂

#13

And I’m too lazy to write that out…

Don’t forget, UA has chartered flight to both KMDW and KHOU. They even have a maintenance base in KHOU (!!) and they regularly move aircraft between it and KIAH.

1 Like
#14

You don’t have to write it out, just list them as “focus city”…

#15

To some extent Spirit doesn’t even have focus cities. They are a true example of point to point flying. They find routes that work and fly them. Southwest refers to their “focus cities” as operating bases. Similairly JetBlue lists KJFK as an operating base and their other airports with large operations as a focus city.

1 Like
#16

That is true, Southwest JetBlue and spirit aren’t considered “hubs”, but let’s take Southwest for example. Yes, they only offer one type of aircraft, but they still offer enough connecting flights to be considered a hub. Although it isn’t considered as a hub officially, it definitely provides enough to have a few main airports. Specifically KLAS KMDW KDAL KMCO and KBWI. These airports offer the most connecting southwest flights, and actually maintain pretty high passenger traffic throughout the airport. If it really bugs you, I will go back and fix it.

1 Like
#17

So you say that they offer enough flights for it to be considered a hub, and then state that it is not technically a hub. For simplicity sake why don’t we refer to them as focus cities.

#18

I have gone back and edited it for all of those conserned about focus cities.

1 Like
#19

KISP is also a Focus City for Frontier.
And BDL isn’t a focus city for either JetBlue or Southwest.

#20

It’s not a focus city as stated, those two airlines account for the majority of passenger traffic tho