[Kngkyle]

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.