[ardecila]

Originally Posted by chiphile

Uh, no. I figured some predictable Chicago-booster defensiveness on here but not at this level. The CDC does not generate 6,000 seats per day for international flying, not now, not ever.

What is booster ish about this? It's not a normal time and the usual decision logic for air routes no longer applies. I'm not surprised Chicago lost most of its connectivity during such a drastic paring-down. I don't think it indicates any kind of weird grudge against Chicago on the part of the airlines.

Also, why does the number of seats matter? It's not like the airlines can shrink their planes - the long-haul birds capable of these flights only come in certain sizes. The goal is not to fill the flights but to provide essential connectivity between key cities and ONLY between key cities for key personnel during this crisis, Atlanta being a super important city due to CDC.

Don't forget that the Trump administration runs FAA - it may not truly make sense to run so many flights into Atlanta, but I'm sure Trump and co believe it is.

Chicago is "smack dab in the middle" if you think the world is flat, which is not how airplanes fly.

Chicago is still almost 1,000 miles further to Japanese and Korean airports than West Coast hubs like LAX and SFO even on a great circle distance.

the fact has always been and is now clear that both UA and AA never considered O'Hare a primary hub, but a secondary. They clearly shifted their international flying to what they viewed as their primary international hubs from day one. This is not good for Chicago and I hope the coming recession just kills United and allows us to have its gates taken over by an airline that isn't pure misery when flying or dealing with customer service, and an airline that actually prioritizes Chicago and its unique northern geography which makes it very ideal for both Atlantic and Pacific long haul routes because the Earth is round, and super connectivity to the continental U.S.

I just don't see this, sorry. One way of saying Chicago is "good for both Atlantic and Pacific" is that it's not ideal for either. Under normal circumstances ORD functions as a collection point for the middle of the nation and prevents coastal hubs from being overwhelmed. That's the role ORD has held for decades. But it's a role that's conditional upon an overall high level of air traffic across the nation - take that away and airlines will naturally re-focus on a smaller number of coastal hubs to minimize redundancy and fuel consumption. In some cases, as with American in Dallas or Delta in Detroit, they have too many of their key facilities at a mid-continent site so they're locked in there regardless of whether it is a logical node in a skeleton network.