We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

No seeming way to know, but perhaps STL, BNA, ABQ, MCI, etc.
Places where WN dominates

SumChristianus wrote:

No seeming way to know, but perhaps STL, BNA, ABQ, MCI, etc.
Places where WN dominates

Although I don't have that information in front of me, I would guess these as the top 10 and not in any particular order:

MDW, MCO, LAS, SAN, PHX, BWI, HOU, DAL, DEN, I would tie OAK/SJC as neck and neck since they both do a majority of intra CA routes.

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

Are these the most profitable stations or most profitable hubs?

727LOVER wrote:

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

Are these the most profitable stations or most profitable hubs?

Since Southwest does not have hubs I had to say most profitable stations. Wish I could change the title to WN's most profitable large stations.

727LOVER wrote:

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

Are these the most profitable stations or most profitable hubs?

What’s the difference? The OP asked what the most profitable station is. Doesn’t matter if it’s a hub (if WN had them) or a large or small station. If a small outpost like GEG were to make the most money for WN, for example, then that world be the answer.

SNA has been one of the top 5 in Highest Yielding flights per Departure in their Network. For many years SNA was always exempt from Any fare sales because revenue was so strong didn't require low buckets of seats to stimulate traffic.
Old story goes after 9/11 when Airlines resumed service there were stories of airplanes Flying Empty around the system with the exception of SNA. Out of Orange Country the 737-500's were packed 122 passengers flight after flight like nothing ever happened. This raised the eyebrows of Herb and company because for a few years they held a grudge after not fully understanding the Slot Allocation process. Which resulted in WN having their new PHX and Morris air SLC slots taken away.
They year following 9/11 many airlines dropped capacity and WN now with it's own personal lawyer dedicated to SNA swooped up as many available slots as possible. Gravy train topped SNA out at a peak of 72 flights. But with every allocation the city must share it's Excess capacity slots with everyone that requests it so WN had to drawl back to a modest 40 something flights. But these are still producers of great yields per flight.
Other than SNA I've heard LGA is also good return on investment.

Flyguy

Think of places where WN dominates and where there would be lots of business travel. So BNA, STL, MCI. It may not be their biggest stations.

DeltaXNA wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

Are these the most profitable stations or most profitable hubs?

Since Southwest does not have hubs I had to say most profitable stations. Wish I could change the title to WN's most profitable large stations.

Southwest doesn't have hubs? What else are you supposed to call MDW, LAS, BWI, DEN, etc.? Saying Southwest doesn't have hubs is like saying they're still a LCC. They rely heavily on connections at these "large focus cities." They're not the point to point carrier they used to be.

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

DEN is not UA’s most profitable station.

Have to think about stations where they have minimal competition and strong point of sale.

There is not many of those on the East Coast, BWI is probably their most profitable there.

In west coast, it seems like OAK is far and away the most profitable station, although I guess SNA might be as profitable on a per route basis due to the limited number of slots.

DAL and HOU should also be up their in terms of profitability. I would also include MCI since they completely dominate there.

MCO and LAS have too much low cost competition and legacy strength, they probably aren't that profitable there. BNA still has too much DL competition.

MDW or DAL
Total monopoly almost

MDW or DAL
Total monopoly almost

quickmover wrote:

MDW or DAL
Total monopoly almost

Except for DFW a few miles from DAL and AA / UA / ULC at ORD.

FriscoHeavy wrote:

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

DEN is not UA’s most profitable station.

It is their most profitable hub. Scott Kirby announced that earlier this year. WN does not have hubs, they have large stations and small stations. WN employees do not call MDW, BWI, DEN, LAS, etc hubs, they call them mega stations.

I apologize for the thread title. I said the big 3's most profitable hubs but asked what WN's most profitable stations are.

I would have to imagine LGA is one of their most profitable (using the metric of yield). Limited real estate footprint and fares into LGA can often be quite expensive.

WN732 wrote:

SumChristianus wrote:

No seeming way to know, but perhaps STL, BNA, ABQ, MCI, etc.
Places where WN dominates

Although I don't have that information in front of me, I would guess these as the top 10 and not in any particular order:

MDW, MCO, LAS, SAN, PHX, BWI, HOU, DAL, DEN, I would tie OAK/SJC as neck and neck since they both do a majority of intra CA routes.

I would throw out any Cali stations (and maybe all west coast). Their fare war with Alaska has to kill their profits there. Same with Florida and ULCC competition keeping fares down.

Like others said I would guess it would be big stations that are WN heavy, DAL/MDW/STL/BWI/BNA/ maybe LAS (but they have a lot of ULCC competition there)

I would throw in a guess of SMF as they carry a lot of short haul traffic, have a lot of government traffic, and virtually no ULCC...but I would guess it's one of their big CA stations

DeltaXNA wrote:

FriscoHeavy wrote:

DeltaXNA wrote:

We know AA is CLT, DL is ATL, and UA is DEN. What about WN?

DEN is not UA’s most profitable station.

It is their most profitable hub. Scott Kirby announced that earlier this year. WN does not have hubs, they have large stations and small stations. WN employees do not call MDW, BWI, DEN, LAS, etc hubs, they call them mega stations.

I apologize for the thread title. I said the big 3's most profitable hubs but asked what WN's most profitable stations are.

You’re just arguing semantics. They may not call them hubs, but if it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck....

I think SNA, LGA, BUR, SMF and DCA are their highest yielding routes.

DeltaXNA wrote:

Since Southwest does not have hubs I had to say most profitable stations. Wish I could change the title to WN's most profitable large stations.

A hub is defined by the function it serves, not on whether an airline actually calls it a hub. Cities such as DEN, MDW, BWI are Southwest hubs regardless of whether Southwest publicly acknowledges it.

Southwest stated that out of all major Southwest stations located in large metro markets, PHX has the largest market share at 39%. Their calculation factors in all commercial airports located within a major metro area.

Generally speaking, the larger the market share, the more pricing power. Therefore, out of their larger stations, I’m sure Phoenix does well.