Originally Posted by
hiflyer
Yep, sorry for fueling the fire. Had to get the show started. Never said move Int'l ops to MSP. My comment was in reference to the fact that MSP and DET can hold their own as far as Int'l ops is concerned. Besides, NWA has route authority to China from MSP and DET, can't just pick it up and move it to ATL. NWA isn't a small player that has nothing to bring to the table. Besides, the constant reference to ATL as the busiest hub is in reference to departures. According to records, DCI represents more departures than mainline. So, are all those RJ's needed to feed one hub when there are other hubs that are lucrative to the new entity? If so, then ATL will be "right-sized". Sorry for the bye bye comment. I'll be more sensitive for the audience in the future.
No problem. A couple of corrections though. I believe ATL has been the "busiest airport" for a few years now by any metric, not just departures, and DAL has China authority out of ATL as well. I think it's to be a 777lr run. While my hopes are admittedly and blatantly self-interested, I hope management's statements that any consolidation would only occur with Delta as the buyer, headquartered in ATL, and be called Delta turn out to be accurate.