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Old Posted May 10, 2012, 6:27 AM
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Trae Trae is offline
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Los Angeles and Houston
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kngkyle View Post
I really don't see this as having much of an effect on United. United will either just cut some of the routes Southwest starts or dump capacity on them and make them unprofitable for Southwest. I'm pretty sure that United has a cost advantage over Southwest now due to bankruptcy labor concessions. I know when Virgin America started flying 2x daily from Chicago to San Francisco, United responded by going from something like 9 daily flights to 16 daily flights.

Ultimately I'd say United needs Houston more than Houston needs United. The city seems to know this, but should be somewhat cautious not to overdo it because although United won't dehub Houston, United can certainly shift capacity around and perhaps cut some long-haul international routes that Southwest isn't going to make up for.
United isnt dumping anything. Houston is growing too fast and there is too much growth in the energy industry and the Latin American population. If United drops it, some other airline will pick it up. Southwest's new 737 planes are going to have more range anyway.
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