Folks at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis must contemplating what will happen at MEM if the rumored merger between Northwest and Atlanta. Planespotters and other amateur aviation enthusiasts seem to be in agreement that such a merger would mean the end of Northwest’s hub in Memphis, and an end to Delta’s hub in Cincinnati, due to their apparent redundant-ness with the larger domestic hubs of both airlines—Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City, and New York-JFK.
I’m basing my guess about the CA’s contemplations on an article that has appeared in the paper discussing the aftermath of American Airlines de-hubbing Nashville.:
Bill Carey remembers when the American Airlines hub dominated Nashville International Airport. Business and political leaders touted American’s 268 daily Nashville arrivals and departures. But local travelers paid high fares resulting from American’s 70 percent local market share.
Almost as soon as American de-hubbed Nashville in 1995 and significantly cut operations here, its vacant gates at the airport gradually began to fill with other airlines—especially low-fare Southwest Airlines, now Nashville’s dominant carrier. Southwest’s frequent $49-each-way promotional fares to Chicago, and $79 to $99 fares to Orlando, Providence, R.I., the Southwest and West Coast are popular with Tennesseans traveling to different parts of the country.
“In my personal opinion—and I believe in the opinion of our (airport) board—we are better off. We have some of the lowest fares in the country, with Southwest and Frontier,” said Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority President and CEO Raul Regalado.
“We have a tradeoff. We’ve given up some direct flights that American used to offer during its hub days. But the airport developed a number of facilities—the terminal and runways—for them. When they de-hubbed, those facilities remained. American continues to pay for some. But we’ve been able to accommodate other airlines because we have those facilities available.
Memphis would likely be more insulated from the loss of its Northwest hub, as Northwest’s operation pale in comparison to the activity at the FedEx superhub. However, I’m inclined to agree that city residents and businesses might fare better (no pun intended) by trading a near-monopolistic hub for a competitive market.
Heck, it might even become affordable for me to fly back home, rather than looking at flying into either Little Rock or Nashville, and then driving the rest of the way.