kq747 wrote:LAXdude1023 wrote:CaliguyNYC wrote:
I think saying Dallas is way bigger is a stretch. Going by the census there are 100k Indians in Dallas and 91k in Houston. AI benefits more by being in IAH because its a star hub. UA aside, at least professional indians that care about miles (i.e. They travel for work) will want to earn more UA miles - which AI would offer. Also pax from Texas and the south can easily connect in IAH using UA. Dallas is OW and also has Qatar flying which is OW. AI has done a good job of sticking to Star hubs in the US and Europe except where there is bug O&D or very historical (like DEL-JFK). They also have stuck to having most international flights go out of DEL (even TLV), The strategy is working. I think after IAH, AI should only start a one stop from YYZ (say to DEl and via BHX) and maybe EWR-DEL 3X. That's it. They basically have the US covered.
You have to look at newer numbers than 2010. Try the ones from 2015:
Indians per metro area (source American Factfinder-Census):
Dallas: 162,039
Houston: 127.259
Indian growth per metro area (source: INS)
2010:
Dallas: 2,403
Houston: 2,175
2011:
Dallas: 2,582
Houston: 2,099
2012:
Dallas: 2,538
Houston: 2,134
2013:
Dallas: 2,905
Houston: 2,036
2014:
Dallas: 3,845
Houston: 2,694
2015:
Dallas: 3,151
Houston: 2,169
I don't bring this data up to suggest that AI would choose DFW over IAH. Frankly, I don't think they should do either. The markets aren't big enough for all the ME3 plus AI. But the center for Indian culture in Texas has shifted from South Texas to North Texas even though both metro areas have very large Indian communities. DFW has passed Greater Los Angeles in Indian population and is on track to pass the DC area as well to become the 4th largest Indian community in the US.
Are these figures just describing the number of Indian nationals or does it also account for the number of people of Indian origin who are not Indian nationals? If it does not factor these in then it is missing a decent number of people. There are plenty of Indians who have never been citizens of India or have given up Indian citizenship as India does not allow dual citizenship.
The first set of numbers are foreign born Indians and first generation Indians-Americans. It does not include Indians who may be full blooded, but whose grandparents came from India.
The second set of numbers are numbers of Indians granted permanent residence per metro area coming from India.