Originally Posted by
rickair7777
The LCC/ULCC who are doing the direct thing are simply filling in that niche of mid-size towns that can support direct flights, nothing new, it started with SWA. And even then the have "focus cities", aka mini hubs. There's a whole bunch of small towns which cannot support direct flights, and never will. That's what hub n spoke does. Unless the fed is OK with cutting the small towns off. They clearly weren't okay with it last time they granted CARES aid to the airlines.
Except what they are “OK” with doesn’t change the geometry a bit - not if they truly want a smaller carbon footprint. Current regional flying just won’t provide that result. Lower frequency would, small turboprops would, electric eight or twelve pax short range aircraft would. But flying someone 100-200 miles south or north so they can land, taxi in at a crowded hub, unload, then reload, taxi out at a crowded hub, to then travel 1500 miles East or West is going to be pretty counterproductive if you are trying to save on carbon footprint.