Originally Posted by
RSRVWINDSURFR
IAH was a huge hub for CAL before the merger. After the merger, UAL moved a lot of the flying to other hubs, causing a lot of stagnation. It seems that things are slowly moving in the right direction again, and there should be some growth there. It is one of the more senior (older) pilot bases.
Just to expand on that....
Prior to the meger CAL artificially grew IAH while downsizing EWR while playing a game of internal politics with ALPA.
After the merger, IAH continued to “expand” to cover flying systemwide for 737 deliveries.
Later, and as 737 bases were established in previous LUAL hubs the flying has returned to a more rational equilibrium across the system. Low oil prices did not help yields (not the same as loads) in IAH.
On the macro scale the “stagnation” is really just things returning to normal. Back when things were going the other way, pilots in other domiciles were complaining about stagnation while IAH guys were partying inside the bubble.
Hopefully now that the situation has stabilized any movement will occur across all bases. The recent increase in oil can only help IAH.