• This data was collected by hand, so it's possible there are a few inaccuracies. However, I have a high level of confidence in the data overall.
• Schedules are always subject to change, so the totals from when I collected data may already have changed slightly, and may change further in the coming weeks. Notably, I collected the AA data before they removed the 7M8 from their schedules through mid August, so AA hubs in particular might end up looking different depending on how fast the MAX gets back in the air.
• As we know, the term "hub" is always unavoidably subjective. For the purpose of these threads, I'm classifying a "hub" as a station that has 100+ departures serving 30+ destinations.
• I don't have plans to do this for any other airline's network this summer - if someone would like to make a thread like this for AS, AC, etc., wonderful! Please use 7/15/2019 as the schedule date for a fair comparison.
• For simplicity's sake, I decided not to split out different subfleets in the tallies. International 757-200s will be aggregated with domestic 757-200s, 70-seat E-175s with 76-seat E-175s, and so on and so forth. I'm also using airline-agnostic aircraft codes, so if a given airline classifies their 737-700s as "73W" (looking at you, DL), the data here will still show "73G" instead.

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs. Furthermore, compared to DL/ATL and AA/DFW, UA is a bit more balanced across its hubs.

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs. Furthermore, compared to DL/ATL and AA/DFW, UA is a bit more balanced across its hubs.

zakuivcustom wrote:

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs. Furthermore, compared to DL/ATL and AA/DFW, UA is a bit more balanced across its hubs.

My take on the "number of flight" difference:

IAH/ORD/DEN: Being mostly domestic hubs (Although IAH has tons of flight to the south) = pax from 10 NB/RJ flights connect to 10 NB/RJ flights.
EWR/SFO: Being mostly TATL/TPAC hub, respectively = pax from 10 NB/RJ flights connect to 4-5 WB long-haul flights (and v.v.)

Hence why, in terms of "number of flight", EWR/SFO looks small. I wonder what the number would look like in terms of # of seats, though.

MIflyer12 wrote:

zakuivcustom wrote:

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs. Furthermore, compared to DL/ATL and AA/DFW, UA is a bit more balanced across its hubs.

My take on the "number of flight" difference:

IAH/ORD/DEN: Being mostly domestic hubs (Although IAH has tons of flight to the south) = pax from 10 NB/RJ flights connect to 10 NB/RJ flights.
EWR/SFO: Being mostly TATL/TPAC hub, respectively = pax from 10 NB/RJ flights connect to 4-5 WB long-haul flights (and v.v.)

Hence why, in terms of "number of flight", EWR/SFO looks small. I wonder what the number would look like in terms of # of seats, though.

I believe I've seen data on seats per hub here on a.net. (A couple of years ago?) ATL is #1 by a mile, followed by DFW at #2. You see that DL@ATL has nearly twice as many mainline flights as UA@EWR has total flights, right?

Many thanks to FSDan for all of his work.

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs.

FSDan wrote:

B747forever wrote:

I am a little surprised how “small” EWR and especially SFO is compared to ORD, IAH and DEN when everyone here seems to only focus on those two hubs.

UA is basically maxed out on gates at SFO, and I'm sure EWR is crunched at peak times as well.

You will notice that these two hubs do have the most widebodies of pretty much any of the US3 hubs in the country, and tend to have more mainline in general. If you ranked the hubs by ASMs, SFO and EWR would look bigger than they do here ranked by departures.

Eirules wrote:

How much longer will the 752s be flying transatlantic missions for UA?

FSDan wrote:

As I've done in past years, I have gone through the online schedules of the US3 (AA, UA, DL), and have tallied up departures by aircraft type for each hub in order to get a picture of how each airline is currently deploying its fleet across the U.S. I picked a Monday in the middle of the summer (July 15, 2019) and collected schedule data from the same day for all three airlines so that comparisons can be made. It is also interesting to see how things have changed over the years - here are some links to related threads for reference:

2018:
AA - https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1396833
UA - https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1396837
DL - https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1396835

2019:
AA - https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1420609
DL - https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1420613

A few notes/disclaimers:

• This data was collected by hand, so it's possible there are a few inaccuracies. However, I have a high level of confidence in the data overall.
• Schedules are always subject to change, so the totals from when I collected data may already have changed slightly, and may change further in the coming weeks. Notably, I collected the AA data before they removed the 7M8 from their schedules through mid August, so AA hubs in particular might end up looking different depending on how fast the MAX gets back in the air.
• As we know, the term "hub" is always unavoidably subjective. For the purpose of these threads, I'm classifying a "hub" as a station that has 100+ departures serving 30+ destinations.
• I don't have plans to do this for any other airline's network this summer - if someone would like to make a thread like this for AS, AC, etc., wonderful! Please use 7/15/2019 as the schedule date for a fair comparison.
• For simplicity's sake, I decided not to split out different subfleets in the tallies. International 757-200s will be aggregated with domestic 757-200s, 70-seat E-175s with 76-seat E-175s, and so on and so forth. I'm also using airline-agnostic aircraft codes, so if a given airline classifies their 737-700s as "73W" (looking at you, DL), the data here will still show "73G" instead.

Enjoy!


ORD

ER4: 81
CR2: 163
CR7: 34
E70: 21
E75: 60
73G: 19
319: 47
320: 45
738: 52
739: 71
752: 5
753: 17
763: 6
772: 16

Total = 637
43.6 % mainline


IAH

ER4: 113
CR2: 7
CR7: 12
E70: 22
E75: 138
73G: 31
319: 32
320: 19
738: 53
739: 63
7M9: 21
752: 1
763: 8
789: 3
772: 10

Total = 533
45.2 % mainline


DEN

ER4: 68
CR2: 118
CR7: 38
E70: 14
E75: 44
319: 35
320: 40
738: 56
739: 65
752: 6
753: 9
788: 4
772: 7

Total = 504
44.0 % mainline


EWR

ER4: 122
E70: 40
E75: 32
73G: 19
319: 21
320: 31
738: 44
739: 40
752: 37
763: 12
764: 10
78J: 9
772: 11
77W: 4

Total = 432
55.1 % mainline


SFO

CR2: 51
CR7: 4
E75: 43
319: 8
320: 43
738: 34
739: 62
7M9: 8
752: 20
753: 14
788: 3
789: 10
78J: 1
772: 15
77W: 6

Total = 322
69.6 % mainline


IAD

ER4: 34
CR2: 44
CR7: 59
E75: 20
73G: 6
319: 13
320: 8
738: 17
739: 36
752: 9
763: 4
764: 2
788: 5
772: 9

Total = 266
41.0 % mainline


LAX

CR2: 31
CR7: 7
E75: 22
320: 5
738: 20
739: 33
7M9: 8
752: 12
753: 11
789: 5
78J: 2
772: 4

Total = 160
62.5 % mainline

AVENSAB727 wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

DEN will pass IAH at some point it seems.

But isn’t IAH growing as well, In an article Kirby said they planned IAH to be over 600 in the near future.

N649DL wrote:

Wow it looks like DEN has seriously outpaced EWR with 505 mainline flights and EWR at 432. Wasn't EWR bigger than DEN at one point recently?

LAXdude1023 wrote:

AVENSAB727 wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

DEN will pass IAH at some point it seems.

But isn’t IAH growing as well, In an article Kirby said they planned IAH to be over 600 in the near future.

Talk is cheap. I look at actions. UA has been growing DEN like crazy. IAH, not nearly as much.

FSDan wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

AVENSAB727 wrote:

But isn’t IAH growing as well, In an article Kirby said they planned IAH to be over 600 in the near future.

Talk is cheap. I look at actions. UA has been growing DEN like crazy. IAH, not nearly as much.

The thing I like that UA has been doing at IAH recently (which you can't see directly from just looking at the departure numbers) is getting the ER4s off the longest routes. IAH used to have abominably long ER4 flights to places like YYZ, RIC, ORF, PIT, etc. Now the longest routes out of IAH that see 50-seaters are IND, JAX, and COS. IND and JAX are still ripe for upgauges to CR7/E70/E75 in my opinion, but the situation is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago. New as of this summer, all the IAH-Ohio routes (even CAK and DAY) are all large RJs and mainline.

FSDan wrote:

N649DL wrote:

Wow it looks like DEN has seriously outpaced EWR with 505 mainline flights and EWR at 432. Wasn't EWR bigger than DEN at one point recently?

Yes, EWR was bigger recently, but that's mostly because DEN was slashed a lot after the merger (remember that DEN was a strong #2 for pmUA). It's been clawing its way back the past few years, which is good to see.

EWR is very constrained operationally, so I wouldn't expect it to change too much from year to year in terms of number of departures.

SierraPacific wrote:

It is interesting to see how much UA relies on regional lift compared to DL and AA. I wonder if DL having the 717's account for the difference between mainline vs regional percentages.

SierraPacific wrote:

It is interesting to see how much UA relies on regional lift compared to DL and AA. I wonder if DL having the 717's account for the difference between mainline vs regional percentages.

FSDan wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

AVENSAB727 wrote:

But isn’t IAH growing as well, In an article Kirby said they planned IAH to be over 600 in the near future.

Talk is cheap. I look at actions. UA has been growing DEN like crazy. IAH, not nearly as much.

The thing I like that UA has been doing at IAH recently (which you can't see directly from just looking at the departure numbers) is getting the ER4s off the longest routes. IAH used to have abominably long ER4 flights to places like YYZ, RIC, ORF, PIT, etc. Now the longest routes out of IAH that see 50-seaters are IND, JAX, and COS. IND and JAX are still ripe for upgauges to CR7/E70/E75 in my opinion, but the situation is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago. New as of this summer, all the IAH-Ohio routes (even CAK and DAY) are all large RJs and mainline.

codc10 wrote:

Great work, as always.

To recap, since 2018, for each hub:

ORD: Fewer flights, larger gauge: 50-seaters roughly flat, fewer 70/76 seaters, more large NB (738/739), more widebodies

IAH: More flights, slightly smaller gauge: fewer NB mainline, more 50 seaters, more 70/76 seaters, more widebodies

DEN: More flights, larger gauge, 50 seaters big increase, more mainline NB, more mainline WB, 70/76 seaters flat

EWR: Slightly fewer flights, similar gauge: fewer 50 seaters, flat 70/76 seaters, fewer NB mainline (with higher mix of 73G/319/320 to 738/739), more WB (+5)

SFO: Flat in departures, UAX departures flat but worse mix of 50 to 70/76 seaters, more large NB, more WB (+5)

IAD: Increase in departures, smaller overall gauge, more UAX in both 50 and 70/76 categories, flat in mainline NB, +1 in WB

LAX: Down in departures, up in 50 seaters, up in 70 seaters, down in 76 seaters, down in NB mainline, +1 in WB

So, it would appear DEN growth has been fueled by shift of mainline from IAH/LAX plus additional 50 seaters added to the network; IAH departures growth driven by additional 50 seaters and some 70/76 seaters coming from the West Coast; IAD departures growth coming from shift of 50 seaters from EWR. There has also been a bit of a shift of 738/739 from EWR to ORD/SFO. Additional widebody flying appears to be enabled by 787-10 deliveries and removal of one 777 rotation from GUM (2x GUM-NRT 77G going to 738 for summer season).

Midwestindy wrote:

FSDan wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

Talk is cheap. I look at actions. UA has been growing DEN like crazy. IAH, not nearly as much.

The thing I like that UA has been doing at IAH recently (which you can't see directly from just looking at the departure numbers) is getting the ER4s off the longest routes. IAH used to have abominably long ER4 flights to places like YYZ, RIC, ORF, PIT, etc. Now the longest routes out of IAH that see 50-seaters are IND, JAX, and COS. IND and JAX are still ripe for upgauges to CR7/E70/E75 in my opinion, but the situation is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago. New as of this summer, all the IAH-Ohio routes (even CAK and DAY) are all large RJs and mainline.

Pretty shocking that UA can only muster up 2xE145, 1xCR2, and 1xE170 on IND-IAH in June, however, everywhere else has seen dramatic improvement which is good.

JAX has seen a huge improvement with more mainline and large RJs.

LAXdude1023 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

Talk is cheap. I look at actions. UA has been growing DEN like crazy. IAH, not nearly as much.

The thing I like that UA has been doing at IAH recently (which you can't see directly from just looking at the departure numbers) is getting the ER4s off the longest routes. IAH used to have abominably long ER4 flights to places like YYZ, RIC, ORF, PIT, etc. Now the longest routes out of IAH that see 50-seaters are IND, JAX, and COS. IND and JAX are still ripe for upgauges to CR7/E70/E75 in my opinion, but the situation is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago. New as of this summer, all the IAH-Ohio routes (even CAK and DAY) are all large RJs and mainline.

This is true. DEN should still pass IAH in departures if the trend continues, but maybe not in number of seats. I believe DEN does have more total destinations than IAH as is though...

ScorpioMC3 wrote:

... When bad weather hits, the 50-seaters are the first flights to get axed at any of the US3 and since United has so many of them...

jetblastdubai wrote:

ScorpioMC3 wrote:

... When bad weather hits, the 50-seaters are the first flights to get axed at any of the US3 and since United has so many of them...

If all these 50-seaters were converted to mainline then the mainline flights would be cancelled when weather hits and airport capacity drops below what's normally scheduled. Either way, the SYR, BUF, LNK and ICTs of the world will probably be inconvenienced just as often.

AVENSAB727 wrote:

Is it possible that IAH is still feeling the effects of the oil downturn? Nice to see DEN see growth, more than IAH, but sad to see IAH lose the 2nd largest hub spot.

Cubsrule wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

The thing I like that UA has been doing at IAH recently (which you can't see directly from just looking at the departure numbers) is getting the ER4s off the longest routes. IAH used to have abominably long ER4 flights to places like YYZ, RIC, ORF, PIT, etc. Now the longest routes out of IAH that see 50-seaters are IND, JAX, and COS. IND and JAX are still ripe for upgauges to CR7/E70/E75 in my opinion, but the situation is vastly improved over what it was a few years ago. New as of this summer, all the IAH-Ohio routes (even CAK and DAY) are all large RJs and mainline.

This is true. DEN should still pass IAH in departures if the trend continues, but maybe not in number of seats. I believe DEN does have more total destinations than IAH as is though...

The thing people forget about DEN (and SLC for DL) is that it is the "regional hub" for an enormous number of small towns that surround it. Texas is large, but more sparsely populated. UA serves seven cities in Colorado from DEN (plus CNY and VEL, which are just over the state line), six in Wyoming, six in Western Kansas and Nebraska, etc.

MIflyer12 wrote:

Cubsrule wrote:

LAXdude1023 wrote:

This is true. DEN should still pass IAH in departures if the trend continues, but maybe not in number of seats. I believe DEN does have more total destinations than IAH as is though...

The thing people forget about DEN (and SLC for DL) is that it is the "regional hub" for an enormous number of small towns that surround it. Texas is large, but more sparsely populated. UA serves seven cities in Colorado from DEN (plus CNY and VEL, which are just over the state line), six in Wyoming, six in Western Kansas and Nebraska, etc.

Um, no. Look at the fifteen states with the lowest population density and many are proximate to Colorado (Colorado itself is #14, while Texas is #25):

State Population Land Area (sq mi) Density (people per sq mi) ▴
Alaska flag Alaska 737,000 (49th) 570,640.61 (1st) 1.3 (56th)
Wyoming flag Wyoming 584,000 (52nd) 97,093.07 (9th) 6.0 (55th)
Montana flag Montana 1,024,000 (45th) 145,545.78 (4th) 7.0 (54th)
North Dakota flag North Dakota 739,000 (48th) 69,000.67 (17th) 10.7 (53rd)
South Dakota flag South Dakota 853,000 (47th) 75,811.13 (16th) 11.3 (52nd)
New Mexico flag New Mexico 2,086,000 (37th) 121,298.19 (5th) 17.2 (51st)
Idaho flag Idaho 1,634,000 (40th) 82,643.20 (11th) 19.8 (50th)
Nebraska flag Nebraska 1,882,000 (38th) 76,824.26 (15th) 24.5 (49th)
Nevada flag Nevada 2,839,000 (36th) 109,781.15 (7th) 25.9 (48th)
Utah flag Utah 2,943,000 (34th) 82,169.46 (12th) 35.8 (47th)
Kansas flag Kansas 2,904,000 (35th) 81,758.64 (13th) 35.5 (46th)
Oregon flag Oregon 3,970,000 (27th) 95,988.05 (10th) 41.4 (45th)
Maine flag Maine 1,330,000 (42nd) 30,842.99 (39th) 43.1 (44th)
Colorado flag Colorado 5,356,000 (22nd) 103,641.75 (8th) 51.7 (43rd)
Oklahoma flag Oklahoma 3,878,000 (28th) 68,594.88 (19th) 56.5 (42nd)

Source: https://www.states101.com/populations

FSDan's report is flights, not seats. UA-coded ERJ/CR2 flights to little nowhere towns in Nebraska, Wyoming et al don't count for much in seats. The UA hub ops at DEN have way more 50-seater flights than IAH.

sldispatcher wrote:

Seems like the E170/5SC series and the CRJ550 should make for an interesting recalibration next year in some of these figures.

Also, seems like IAD is just plain underutilized. For all of the real estate and capacity....seems like it is begging for another couple of banks, and more importantly, more outstation connections throughout the south. AA has really been building CLT up, and according to reports from management, doing very well. But I suppose the cost differential of operating out of CLT vs. IAD has some impact?

N292UX wrote:

sldispatcher wrote:

Seems like the E170/5SC series and the CRJ550 should make for an interesting recalibration next year in some of these figures.

Also, seems like IAD is just plain underutilized. For all of the real estate and capacity....seems like it is begging for another couple of banks, and more importantly, more outstation connections throughout the south. AA has really been building CLT up, and according to reports from management, doing very well. But I suppose the cost differential of operating out of CLT vs. IAD has some impact?

UA was floating the idea of adding 2 new banks to IAD (from 4 to 6) just a few months ago. There's still a chance it happens, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happens sometime soon.

FSDan wrote:

DEN

Cmac787 wrote:

just recieved word today that UA is looking to add 3 gates at IAD over at the Z concourse. Possibly up to 3 of the 4 gates over there. right now F9 and AC use them.

codc10 wrote:

DEN: More flights, larger gauge, 50 seaters big increase, more mainline NB, more mainline WB, 70/76 seaters flat