The hub-and-spoke systemhas been the guidingoperational framework forairlines in the United Statessince they began operationsabout 70 years ago. It hascontinually adapted toaviation trends and remainsthe cornerstone of the majorairline route and operationstrategy.

New RealitiesPerhaps the mostsignificant change in theevolution of air travel is thegrowing regional andcommuter market.

Some well-established hubshave altered their look orstrategies to deal with thegrowth in regional service.Recently, Burns &McDonnell worked with USAirways and the City ofPhiladelphia to provideprogram management for anew state-of-the-artcommuter terminal atPhiladelphia InternationalAirport (PIA).

The 38-gate Terminal Fmakes regional travel moreefficient at Philadelphia.Twenty-four of the 38 gateshave specially designedpassenger loading bridgesequipped to service regional

jets and commercialpropeller-driven aircraft.The loading bridgeseliminate the need forholding rooms and shuttlebuses that transporttravelers to their planes.

A US Airways subsidiary,US Airways Express, usesmost of the terminal forregional flights. The newterminal can accommodatesignificant growth. In 2000,about 2 million passengersflew to or fromPhiladelphia on a USAirways Express flight.Terminal F is designed toaccommodate 6 millionpassengers a year.

Hub and Spoke System: A Good Idea . . . Again

By Katherine Goudreau

9 Burns & McDonnell

1985Burns & McDonnell designs

the integrated test facility forNASA at Edwards Air Force

Base in California. NASA performs preflight and

postflight testing at this location.

1978The Airline Deregulation Act is signed

into law.

1977The Gossamer Albatross

becomes the first human-powered aircraft.

For much of its history Southwest Airlines eschewed the hub-and-spoke system –while becoming the most successful airline in the United States.

Some experts were predicting that the hub-and-spoke system would lose favors aslow-cost carriers such as Southwest and jetBlue Airways began to bore into the profitmargins of the larger carriers.

However, while the concept of point-to-point travel is appealing to most travelers, ithas not been practical, to date, for the airlines. The investment in aircraft required toserve point-to-point routes would be impossible for the airlines to fund. And the

The Southwest Example

Over the past 10 years,other airlines and airportshave opened regionalterminals. ContinentalAirlines built a $120 millionfacility in Cleveland in1999; Cincinnati Airport hashad a separate terminal forits commuter flights since1994.

These terminals wereopened because the numberof passengers who utilizeregional jets is growing andexpanding to more areas of

Aviation Special Report 2 10

1993Burns & McDonnell provides

airfield simulation and pavementdesign for the largest airport

project in the world to date,Chep Lap Kok, Hong Kong.

1989Burns & McDonnell develops

conceptual design and engi-neering criteria for Denver

International Airport, the firstmajor new U.S. airport after

deregulation.

Saving Data for Another DayCleve DeVault, P.E.

Despite theiringenuity, theWright brotherscould not haveforeseen theimpacttechnologywould have onthis new modeof transportationthey hadinvented.

A century later, infrared deicing, automated leak detection,and management databases are among the tools of modernflight and the modern airport, and the rapid pace oftechnology brings new innovations every year.

All these new innovations require new tools to keep track ofthem. Whether for asset management, maintenance, masterplanning or enhanced security, aviation facilities need toaccount for every feature and maximize every dollar spent –at a moment’s notice. Through this evolution in technology,DataConservation™ was born.

Burns & McDonnell’s trademarked DataConservation™ is adiscipline whereby information that is created once, typicallyfor a specific project, is integrated in a process formaintaining and distributing information for other activities ofthe business. Practicing DataConservation™ eliminatesredundancy of data, makes data use much more efficient, andallows many others in the business to use the same set of datafor their own purposes. The data is, in effect, conserved andmade available to users using PDAs, GIS, Internet tools andother technologies.

Burns & McDonnell’s DataConservation™ enhances servicesby improving the efficiency and quality of projects. But moreimportant, it sets the stage for easy access to information,making businesses successful and allowing them to keep pacewith a rapidly changing industry. ✈

the country. Whether it isthe modification of anexisting terminal or theconstruction of a new one,airports will need to followthese examples to meet theneeds of passengers.

One hundred years of flighthas taught us that change isa constant in air travel. Thehub-and-spoke system hasadapted time after time.What will the future bring?Hard to say. But 70 years ofsuccess is hard to beat. ✈

continued need for a central maintenance location would lead to empty planes flyingto locations to be serviced.

Even Southwest is taking advantage of the benefits of hub and spoke. It hasestablished hubs in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Baltimore. jetBlue is following suit with itsown hub in New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

Southwest and jetBlue found out what the other carriers had known for years: thehub-and-spoke system contains efficiencies that are not found in alternative systems.Hub operations allow the airlines to create significant economies of scale and leveragethe large staffs required for the wide variety of services needed to operate.