Airbus
Airbus SE, from 2000 to 2014 known as the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, is a European multinational aerospace corporation, registered in the Netherlands and trading shares in France and Spain. It designs and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures in the European Union and various other countries; the company has three divisions: Commercial Aircraft and Space, Helicopters, the third being the largest in its industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. The company's main civil aeroplane business is based in Blagnac, France, a suburb of Toulouse, with production and manufacturing facilities in the European Union but in China and the United States. Final assembly production is based in France; the company produces and markets the first commercially viable digital fly-by-wire airliner, the Airbus A320, the world's largest passenger airliner, the A380. The 10,000th aircraft, an A350, was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 14 October 2016.
The global Airbus fleet have performed more than 110 million flights, totaling over 215 billion kilometres and carrying 12 billion passengers. Airbus's corporate headquarters is located in Leiden and the main office is located in Toulouse, France; the company is led by CEO Guillaume Faury and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. The current company is the product of consolidation in the European aerospace industry tracing back to the formation of the Airbus Industrie GIE consortium in 1970. In 2000, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV was established. In addition to other subsidiaries pertaining to security and space activities, EADS owned 100% of the pre-existing Eurocopter SA, established in 1992, as well as 80% of Airbus Industrie GIE. In 2001, Airbus Industrie GIE was reorganised as a simplified joint-stock company. In 2006, EADS acquired. EADS NV was renamed Airbus Group NV and SE in 2014, 2015, respectively. Due to the dominance of the Airbus SAS division within Airbus Group SE, these parent and subsidiary companies were merged in January 2017, keeping the name of the parent company.
The company was given its present name in April 2017. The logos of Airbus Industrie GIE and Airbus SAS displayed a stylised turbine symbol, redolent of a jet engine, a font similar to Helvetica Black; the logo colours were reflected in the standard Airbus aircraft livery in each period. The EADS logo between 2000 and 2010 combined the logos of the merged companies, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG and Aérospatiale-Matra, after which these elements were removed and a new font with 3D shading was chosen; this font was retained in the logos of Airbus Group NV and Airbus Group SE Airbus SE: The Airbus product line started with the A300, the world's first twin-aisle, twin-engined aircraft. A shorter, re-winged, re-engined variant of the A300 is known as the A310. Building on its success, Airbus launched the A320 notable for being the first commercial jet to use a fly-by-wire control system; the A320 has been, continues to be, a great commercial success. The A318 and A319 are shorter derivatives with some of the latter under construction for the corporate business jet market as Airbus Corporate Jets.
A stretched version is known as the A321. The A320 family's primary competitor is the Boeing 737 family; the longer-range widebody products— the twin-jet A330 and the four-engine A340— have efficient wings, enhanced by winglets. The Airbus A340-500 has an operating range of 16,700 kilometres, the second longest range of any commercial jet after the Boeing 777-200LR. All Airbus aircraft developed since have cockpit systems similar to the A320, making it easier to train crew. Production of the four-engine A340 was ended in 2011 due to lack of sales compared to its twin-engine counterparts, such as the Boeing 777. Airbus is studying a replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed NSR, for "New Short-Range aircraft"; those studies indicated a maximum fuel efficiency gain of 9–10% for the NSR. Airbus however opted to enhance the existing A320 design using new winglets and working on aerodynamical improvements; this "A320 Enhanced" should have a fuel efficiency improvement of around 4–5%, shifting the launch of an A320 replacement to 2017–2018.
On 24 September 2009, the COO Fabrice Bregier stated to Le Figaro that the company would need from €800 million to €1 billion over six years to develop the new aircraft generation and preserve the company technological lead from new competitors like the Chinese Comac C919, scheduled to operate by 2015–2020. In July 2007, Airbus delivered its last A300 to FedEx, marking the end of the A300/A310 production line. Airbus intends to relocate Toulouse A320 final assembly activity to Hamburg, A350/A380 production in the opposite direction as part of its Power8 organisation plan begun under ex-CEO Christian Streiff. Airbus supplied replacement parts and service for Concorde until its retirement in 2003; the Airbus Corporate Jets modifies new aircraft for private and corporate customers. It has a model range that parallels the commercial aircraft offered by the company, ranging from the A318 Elite to the double-deck Airbus A380 Prestige. Following the entry of the 737 based Boeing Business Jet, Airbus joined the business jet market with the A319 Corporate Jet in 1997.
Although the term Airbus Corporate jet was used only for the A319CJ, it is now us
Miami
Miami the City of Miami, is the cultural and financial center of South Florida. Miami is the seat of the most populous county in Florida; the city covers an area of about 56.6 square miles, between the Everglades to the west and Biscayne Bay on the east. The Miami metropolitan area is home to 6.1 million people and the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Miami's metro area is the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States and fourth-largest urban area in the U. S. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the United States with over 300 high-rises, 80 of which stand taller than 400 feet. Miami is a major center, a leader in finance, culture, entertainment, the arts, international trade; the Miami Metropolitan Area is by far the largest urban economy in Florida and the 12th largest in the United States with a GDP of $344.9 billion as of 2017. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha − level world city in the World Cities Study Group's inventory. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States and 33rd among global cities in terms of business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, political engagement.
In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami "America's Cleanest City", for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, the world's seventh-richest city in terms of purchasing power. Miami is nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America" and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Greater Downtown Miami has one of the largest concentrations of international banks in the United States, is home to many large national and international companies; the Civic Center is a major center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers, biotechnology industries. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the "Cruise Capital of the World", has been the number one cruise passenger port in the world, it accommodates some of the world's largest cruise ships and operations, is the busiest port in both passenger traffic and cruise lines.
Metropolitan Miami is a major tourism hub in the southeastern U. S. for international visitors, ranking number two in the country after New York City. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes; the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River. In 1566 admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida's first governor, claimed the area for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year in 1567. Spain and Great Britain successively ruled Florida. Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress and remove the Seminole; the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as "the only major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle", a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native.
The Miami area was better known as "Biscayne Bay Country" in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness; the area was characterized as "one of the finest building sites in Florida." The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miami's growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a railroad tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as "the mother of Miami." Miami was incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300. It was derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee. Black labor played a crucial role in Miami's early development. During the beginning of the 20th century, migrants from the Bahamas and African-Americans constituted 40 percent of the city's population. Whatever their role in the city's growth, their community's growth was limited to a small space.
When landlords began to rent homes to African-Americans in neighborhoods close to Avenue J, a gang of white men with torches visited the renting families and warned them to move or be bombed. During the early 20th century, northerners were attracted to the city, Miami prospered during the 1920s with an increase in population and infrastructure; the legacy of Jim Crow was embedded in these developments. Miami's chief of police, H. Leslie Quigg, did not hide the fact that he, like many other white Miami police officers, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Unsurprisingly, these officers enforced social codes far beyond the written law. Quigg, for example, "personally and publicly beat a colored bellboy to death for speaking directly to a white woman."The collapse of the Florida land boom of the 1920s, the 1926 Miami Hurricane, the Great Depression in the 1930s slowed development. When World War II began, well-situated on the southern coast of Florida, became a base for US defense against German submarines.
The war brought an increase in Miami's population. After Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba in 1959, many wealthy Cubans sought refuge in Miami, further increasing the population; the city developed cultural amenities as part of the New South. In the 1980s and 1990s
Verona Villafranca Airport
Verona Villafranca Airport known as Valerio Catullo Airport or Villafranca Airport, is located 10 km southwest of Verona, Italy. The airport is situated next to the junction of A4 A22 Modena-Brenner motorways, it serves a population of more than 4 million inhabitants in the provinces of Verona, Brescia and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. Villafranca Air Base was a military airport during the First World War, it became open to civil traffic in the early 1910s with daily scheduled connections to Rome and charter flights to destinations in northern Europe. Towards late 1970s, under the first community project by the Province of Verona, Comune of Verona and the local Chamber of Commerce, Villafranca Airport constructed a passenger terminal and handling facilities; the managing society, "Aeroporto Valerio Catullo di Verona Villafranca S. P. A.", was established in December 1978. Ownership is shared between provincial governments from Veneto, Lombardy and Alto Adige/Südtirol. In 1990, the passenger terminal was expanded in order to cope with the growing air traffic.
The aircraft apron and car-parking areas were enlarged. In 1995, the airport has reached a record of handling one million passengers per annum. In 1999, the airport became Italy's second-grade airport in the'Special Classification of Charter Traffic' and ranked after Milan Malpensa Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport. During the Bosnian War, the airport was used by NATO aircraft as a staging area. Passenger numbers continued to grow: 2 million per year in 2001 and 3 million per year in 2006. In response to the strong demand in patronage, the airport has undertaken a significant expansion programme on its services and facilities. In May 2006, a new arrivals terminal, Terminal 2, was opened by the Vice-Minister of Transport, Cesare De Piccoli, Vice-President of Veneto Region, Luca Zaia; this additional terminal is situated next to the original building, now known as Terminal 1. As a result of the expansion programme, the airport's capacity has doubled. Hence Terminal 1 is used for departures and Terminal 2 for arrivals.
Air traffic has continued to grow during the 2010s with 3,385,794 passengers recorded in 2011. After a European Union investigation into high subsidies being granted to Ryanair on their scheduled routes, the airline pulled out of Villafranca Airport in 2012; this caused a reduction in passenger traffic in 2013. In 2015, Ryanair reintroduced services to the airport with scheduled flights to Palermo, London Stansted and Brussels. Several airlines have switched their charter routes to regular services during the Winter Season 2015-16: Finnair flies between Verona and Helsinki and AirBaltic flies between Verona and Riga; the route between Paris and Verona, as operated by Air France, ceased operation in late October 2015, having been replaced with flights operated by its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia. Verona-Villafranca Airport is equipped with a fog-dispersal device, which remains the best solution available in Italy and abroad to date, so that flight operations could continue during times of low visibility.
This system allows pilots to land in visibility as low as 75 m. The runway is certified for ILS Category IIIb approach; the two terminals and arrivals, are situated next to each other. The departures hall hosts check-in facilities at the eastern side; the lounge is located on the first floor's eastern wing. The main bus stand is located directly outside the arrivals hall. A shuttle bus service, Aerobus operated by ATV, connects Verona-Villafranca Airport directly with Verona Porta Nuova station. During the summer months, ATV buses 164, 183 and 184 additionally provide hourly connections between Verona-Villafranca Airport en route to comunes along Lake Garda/Lago di Garda. Media related to Verona Airport at Wikimedia Commons Official website Current weather for LIPX at NOAA/NWS Accident history for VRN at Aviation Safety Network
Milan Malpensa Airport
Milan Malpensa Airport is the largest international airport in the Milan metropolitan area in northern Italy. It serves 15 million inhabitants in Lombardy and Liguria, as well as those living in the Swiss region of Canton Ticino; the airport is located 49 kilometres northwest of central Milan, next to the Ticino river. The airport has two runways as well as a dedicated cargo terminal. In 2017, Malpensa Airport handled 22,169,167 passengers and was the 26th busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers and 2nd busiest airport in Italy in terms of passengers; until 2008, Malpensa Airport was a major hub for flag carrier Alitalia. Malpensa Airport remains the second-busiest Italian airport for international passenger traffic, the busiest for freight and cargo, handling over 500,000 tons of international freight annually; the first industrial airport was opened in 1909 near the Cascina Malpensa, an old farm, by Giovanni Agusta and Gianni Caproni to test their aircraft prototypes. This airport was opened for civil operation in 1948 during the war reconstruction period, in order to serve the northern area of Milan.
The site of today's Malpensa Airport has seen aviation activities for more than 100 years. The first began on 27 May 1910, when the Caproni brothers flew their "flying machine", the Cal biplane. In the years that followed, many aircraft prototypes took off from the same site. Both Gianni Caproni and Giovanni Agusta established factories on the new site. During the 1920s and 1930s, the airfield hosted two squadrons of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana. In September 1943, Malpensa airfield was taken over by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe when northern Italy was invaded by Adolf Hitler. Soon after their arrival, the Germans laid the airfield's first concrete runway. After the cessation of hostilities during the Second World War and politicians of the Milan and Varese regions, led by banker Benigno Ajroldi of Banca Alto Milanese, restored the airfield, they aimed to make it an industrial fulcrum for post-war recovery of Italy. The main runway damaged by German troops as they retreated from northern Italy, was rebuilt and extended to 1,800 metres.
A small wooden terminal was constructed to protect passengers from bad weather. Malpensa Airport commenced commercial operations on 21 November 1948 as Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio, although the Belgian national flag-carrier Sabena had started flying to Brussels from here a year earlier. On 2 February 1950 Trans World Airlines became the first company to fly long-haul flights from Malpensa, using Lockheed Constellations on their services to New York Idlewild Airport. A change of ownership occurred in 1952 when the Municipality of Milan took control of the airport's operator, the Società Aeroporto di Busto Arsizio; the operator's name was subsequently changed to Società Esercizi Aeroportuali SpA. After assuming full control, SEA decided to develop Malpensa as an international and intercontinental gateway, whereas Milan's other airport, Linate Airport, would be tasked with handling only domestic services. Between 1958 and 1962 a new terminal arrived at Malpensa and the airport's two parallel runways were extended to 3,915 m, becoming the longest in Europe at that time.
By the early 1960s, major European carriers such as British Airways, Air France and Alitalia had moved the majority of their services to Linate Airport, just 11 km east of Milan's city centre, making it much easier for passengers to reach central Milan. This left Malpensa with just a handful of intercontinental links, charter flights and cargo operations. Malpensa suffered a decline in commercial traffic, with passenger numbers dropping from 525,000 in 1960 to just 331,000 by 1965, it was destined to play second fiddle to Linate Airport for another 20 years. By the mid-1980s Linate Airport was handling seven million passengers per year and, with only a short single runway and limited parking slots, had reached its saturation point. With no available land nearby for expansion, an alternative solution was sought: Societa Esercizi Aeroportuali SpA found that developing Malpensa was the only practical alternative. By the end of 1985, a law had been passed by the Italian Parliament that paved the way for the reorganisation of the Milan airport system.
Malpensa was designated as the centre for all services covering northern Italy, while Linate Airport was downgraded to a domestic and short-haul facility. "Malpensa 2000", as the plan was called, included the construction of a new terminal as well as the development of fast, efficient connections to Milan's city centre. The European Union recognised this project as one of the 14 "Essential to the Development of the Union" and provided €200 million to help finance the work. Construction started in November 1990. During the night of 24/25 October 1998 Alitalia moved the majority of its fleet from Rome Fiumicino Airport – where it had been flying from for over 50 years – to Malpensa Airport; the airport started a new lease of life as the Italian flag-carrier's main hub. Alitalia added up to 488 movements and 42,000 passengers a day at the facility which, by the end of 1998, had handled 5.92 million passengers. In 1999 it recorded a spectacular leap to 16.97 million and, by 2007, passenger numbers had reached 23.9 million.
Efficient rail links from two different stations in Milan (Centrale and Cadorna st
Iberia (airline)
Iberia incorporated as Iberia, Líneas Aéreas de España, S. A. Operadora, Sociedad Unipersonal, is the flag carrier airline of Spain, founded in 1927. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main base of Madrid-Barajas Airport. Iberia, with Iberia Regional and with Iberia Express, is a part of Iberia Group. In addition to transporting passengers and freight, Iberia Group carries out related activities, such as aircraft maintenance, handling in airports, IT systems and in-flight catering. Iberia Group airlines fly to over 109 destinations in 39 countries, a further 90 destinations through code-sharing agreements with other airlines. On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed that British Airways and Iberia had signed an agreement to merge, making the combined operation the third largest commercial airline in the world by revenue. Shareholders of both carriers approved the deal on 29 November 2010; the newly merged company, known as International Airlines Group, was established in January 2011, although both airlines continue to operate under their current names.
Iberia, Compañía Aérea de Transportes was incorporated on 28 June 1927 with a capital investment by the financier Horacio Echevarrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa of 1.1 million pesetas. Flight operations started on 14 December 1927. Within a year, the company was sponsored by the Spanish government to provide postal transport between Madrid and Barcelona. During the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the aviation companies in Spain were combined and became state-controlled as a general interest public utility, coming into effect in early 1928; as a consequence, Iberia was merged into Compañía de Líneas Aéreas Subvencionadas S. A. and ceased activities as an independent airline on 29 May 1929. The name "Iberia" continued to be registered although the company airline did not have a fleet or commercial operation under his own brand. In 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, Spanish Navy captain and Director-General of the company Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula received the order from General Kindelán to organize an airline for the air transport in nationalist-held territory during the course of the war.
Daniel de Araoz y Aréjula traveled to Germany to get support and material for the restoration of the company as independent airline, thus six Junkers Ju 52 from Deutsche Luft Hansa arrived, which were acquired by Iberia at the end of the conflict, in addition to material to help the operations. As the name "Iberia" was still registered, it was used when operations began in 1937 towards the end of the war. During the conflict Iberia was a purely domestic airline, with headquarters in Salamanca the airline operated flights to cities in the nationalist side, Spanish North Africa, Spanish West Africa and Morocco. After the war, at the end of the 1930s, the airline served the Seville–Larache–Cabo Juby–Las Palmas, Barcelona–Saragosa–Burgos–Salamanca–Seville–Tetuan and Palma–Barcelona–Vitoria runs using Junkers Ju 52 aircraft. On 1 May 1939 Iberia operated its first regular service to an international destination as an independent civil airline with a flight Madrid-Lisbon. In 1940 the government gave the monopoly of national air transport to Iberia, this privilege helped the company to start building as an important international airline, which had not been until then.
The airline was nationalised on 30 September 1944 and became part of Instituto Nacional de Industria. The policy of the company was to separate itself from the German orbit to which it had been linked in its first years, establish relations with the United States in terms of aircraft purchase and supplies of aeronautical material for the operation, thus that year was signed the purchase of seven DC-3, three DC-4 with the purpose of expand the network in Europe and accomplish with the main challenge of his director César Gómez de Lucía, perform the first transatlantic flight of the company. The challenge was achieved in 1946, Iberia was the first airline to fly between Europe and South America after World War II, using a Douglas DC-4 to operate flights between Madrid and Buenos Aires; this flight was the first of an expansion of flights between Latin America and Europe through Spain carry out by the company, with destinations like San Juan de Puerto Rico, Ciudad de México and La Habana. The bad diplomatic relations of the francoist regime delayed some destinations until the beginning of the 50s.
Iberia incorporated four more DC-4s to its fleet during the first half of 1950, enabling both the strengthening of current services and the launch of new ones. By the Pact of Madrid in 1953, visa requirements were eliminated for US visitors to Spain; this stimulated the start of transatlantic flights between Spain and United States the following year. The airline phased in the first of three Super Constellations in June 1954; the aircraft was named Santa María to commemorate Columbus' first voyage and was deployed in the inauguration of the new Madrid–New York service two months on 3 August 1954, the same day that Columbus left the port of Palos de la Frontera. The amendments to Article 6 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of June 14, 1954 made in Paris on June 30, 1956 about non-scheduled air services enabled mass tourism using chartered aircraft since allowing European member states to carry out this type of operation with international flights between their territories; this favored the airline given that it had in its territory several sought after destinations those on the eastern and southern Mediterranean coast and in the Balearic and Canary Islands demanded by seasid
Codeshare agreement
A codeshare agreement known as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market a flight under their own airline designator and flight number as part of their published timetable or schedule. A flight is operated by one airline while seats are sold for the flight by all cooperating airlines using their own designator and flight number; the term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule the two-character IATA airline designator code and flight number. Thus, XX123, might be sold by airline YY as YY456 and by ZZ as ZZ9876. Airlines YY and ZZ are in this case called "Marketing airlines". Most of the major airlines today have code sharing partnerships with other airlines, code sharing is a key feature of the major airline alliances. Code-sharing agreements are a part of the commercial agreements between airlines in the same airline alliances. In 1967, Richard A. Henson joined with US Airways predecessor Allegheny Airlines in the nation's first codeshare relationship.
The term "code sharing" or "codeshare" was coined in 1989 by Qantas and American Airlines, in 1990 the two firms provided their first codeshare flights between an array of Australian cities and U. S. domestic cities. Code sharing has become widespread in the airline industry since that time in the wake of the formation of large airline "alliances." These alliances have extensive codesharing and networked frequent flyer programs. Under a code sharing agreement, the airline that administrates the flight is called the operating carrier abbreviated OPE CXR though the IATA SSIM term "Administrating carrier" is more precise; the reason for this is that a third carrier may be involved in the case that the airline planning to operate the flight needs to hire a subcontractor to operate the flight on their behalf In this case, the airline carrying the passenger should be designated the operating carrier, since it is the one carrying the passengers/cargo. When a flight is sold under several designators and flight numbers as described above, the one published by the "Administrating carrier" is called a "prime flight".
Under a code sharing agreement, participating airlines can present a common flight number for several reasons, including: Connecting flights: This provides clearer routing for the customer, allowing a customer to book travel from point A to C through point B under one carrier's code, instead of a customer booking from point A to B under one code, from point B to C under another code. This is not only a superficial addition as cooperating airlines strive to synchronize their schedules. Flights from both airlines that fly the same route: this provides an apparent increase in the frequency of service on the route by one airline. Perceived service to unserviced markets: this provides a method for carriers who do not operate their own aircraft on a given route to gain exposure in the market through display of their flight numbers; when an airline sacrifices its capacity to other airlines as a code share partner, its operational cost will be reduced to zero. There are several types of code sharing arrangements: Block space codeshare: A commercial airline purchases a fixed number of seats from the administrating carrier.
A fixed price is paid, the seats are kept away from the administrating carrier's inventory. The marketing airline decides on its own. Free flow codeshare: The airlines' inventory and reservation systems communicate in real-time by messaging IATA AIRIMP/PADIS messaging. A booking class mapping is defined between the airlines. No seats are locked to any of the airlines, any airline can sell any number of seats. Capped free flow: Basically the same as above, but a capping are defined for each of the marketing airlines participating in the codeshare with the administrating carrier. Much competition in the airline industry revolves around ticket sales strategies. Criticism has been leveled against code sharing by consumer organizations and national departments of trade since it is claimed it is confusing and not transparent to passengers. There are code sharing arrangements between airlines and railway companies, formally known as air-rail alliances, marketed as "Rail & Fly" due to the popularity of the Deutsche Bahn codeshare with many airlines.
They involve some integration of both types of transport, e.g. in finding the fastest connection and allowing the transfer between plane and train using a single ticket. This allows passengers to book a whole journey at the same time for a discounted price compared to separate tickets. Change of gauge Interlining Snyder, Brett. "This isn't the airline I signed up for." CNN. July 11, 2011. Article on prospect of codesharing between North American rail and airline connections
Airline hub
Airline hubs or hub airports are used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations at a given airport. They serve, it is part of the hub-and-spoke system. An airline operates flights from several non-hub cities to the hub airport, passengers traveling between spoke cities need to connect through the hub; this paradigm creates economies of scale that allow an airline to serve city-pairs that could otherwise not be economically served on a non-stop basis. This system contrasts with the point-to-point model, in which there are no hubs and nonstop flights are instead offered between spoke cities. Hub airports serve origin and destination traffic. In the airline industry, a focus city is a destination from which an airline operates limited point-to-point routes. Ergo, a focus city caters to the local market rather than to connecting passengers. However, with the term's expanded usage, a focus city may function as a small-scale or total hub. Allegiant Air, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines are examples of US-based airlines that consider some of their focus cities run like a hub.
The hub-and-spoke system allows an airline to serve fewer routes, so fewer aircraft are needed. The system increases passenger loads. However, the system is costly. Additional employees and facilities are needed to cater to connecting passengers. To serve spoke cities of varying populations and demand, an airline requires several aircraft types, specific training and equipment are necessary for each type. In addition, airlines may experience capacity constraints. For the passenger, the hub-and-spoke system offers one-stop air service to a wide array of destinations. However, it requires having to make connections en route to their final destination, which increases travel time. Additionally, airlines can come to monopolise their hubs, allowing them to increase fares as passengers have no alternative. Airlines may operate banks of flights at their hubs, in which several flights arrive and depart within short periods of time; the banks may be known as "peaks" of activity at the hubs and the non-banks as "valleys".
Banking allows for short connection times for passengers. However, an airline must assemble a large number of resources to cater to the influx of flights during a bank, having several aircraft on the ground at the same time can lead to congestion and delays. In addition, banking could result in inefficient aircraft utilisation, with aircraft waiting at spoke cities for the next bank. Instead, some airlines have debanked their hubs, introducing a "rolling hub" in which flight arrivals and departures are spread throughout the day; this phenomenon is known as "depeaking". While costs may decrease, connection times are longer at a rolling hub. American Airlines was the first to depeak its hubs, trying to improve profitability following the September 11 attacks, it rebanked its hubs in 2015, feeling the gain in connecting passengers would outweigh the rise in costs. The hub-and-spoke system is used by some cargo airlines. FedEx Express established its main hub in Memphis in 1973, prior to the deregulation of the air cargo industry in the United States.
The system has created an efficient delivery system for the airline. Other airlines that use this system include UPS Airlines, TNT Airways, Cargolux and DHL Aviation, which operate their primary hubs at Louisville, Liège, Luxembourg and Leipzig respectively. Although the term focus city is used to refer to an airport from which an airline operates limited point-to-point routes, its usage has loosely expanded to refer to a small-scale hub as well. For example, JetBlue's New York–JFK focus city runs like a hub, although in reality it is still deemed as a focus city. A fortress hub exists when an airline controls a significant majority of the market at one of its hubs. Competition is difficult at fortress hubs. Examples include Delta hubs at Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Flag carriers have enjoyed similar dominance at the main international airport of their countries and some still do. Examples include Lufthansa at Frankfurt Airport, Air Canada at Toronto Pearson Airport, Alitalia at Rome Fiumicino Airport, KLM at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Garuda Indonesia at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, British Airways at London Heathrow, Air China at Beijing Capital Airport, Iberia at Madrid-Barajas Airport and Air France at Paris Orly and Charles de Gaulle Airports.
A primary hub is the main hub for an airline. However, as an airline expands operations at its primary hub to the point that it experiences capacity limitations, it may elect to open secondary hubs. Examples of such hubs are Turkish Airlines' Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen hub, British Airways' hub at London-Gatwick, Air India's hub at Mumbai and Lufthansa's hub at Munich. By operating multiple hubs, airlines can expand their geographic reach, they can better serve spoke–spoke markets, providing more itineraries with connections at different hubs. A given hub's capacity may become exhausted or capacity shortages may occur during peak periods of the day, at which point airlines may be compelled to shift traffic to a reliever hub. A reliever hub has the potential to serve several functions for an airline: it can bypass the congested hub, it can absorb
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