Which airline controls your airport? At some of America's biggest airline hubs, one airline has almost all of it. We counted every scheduled passenger seat leaving eight major US airports on a single day in November, Wednesday, Nov. 11, and worked out how much belongs to each airline. Five of them are what the industry calls "fortress hubs," where one airline runs nearly everything. Three are real battlegrounds.
The Fortresses
Charlotte is the most lopsided. American and its American Eagle regional flights have 89% of the seats leaving the airport, 582 of the 658 departures that day. American flies to 150 of the 158 places you can reach nonstop from Charlotte.
Dallas-Fort Worth, American's biggest hub, isn't far behind at 84%. Of the 237 places you can fly nonstop from DFW, 183 are served only by American.
Atlanta, the world's busiest airport by passengers, is Delta's at 79%. Delta is scheduled to fly 853 of the 1,061 departures we counted and reaches 192 of Atlanta's 203 nonstop destinations.
Houston Bush (77%) and Newark (75%) belong to United in much the same way.
In these cities, the dominant airline is effectively the only choice for most nonstop trips. If you live in Charlotte and want to fly nonstop to most mid-sized cities, there's no other airline doing it. Loyalty is easy when there's nothing else on the menu.
The Contested Hubs
Three airports looked very different.
Denver is one of United's biggest hubs, but it's far from a fortress. United has 53% of the seats, with Southwest at 27% and Frontier, which is based in Denver, at 8%. It's the most competitive of the big hubs, with a low-cost airline holding more than a quarter of the seats.
Chicago O'Hare is a two-airline town. United has 49% and American 37%, with both running major hubs at the same airport. It's one of the most direct head-to-head rivalries in American aviation, and O'Hare travelers benefit: on most big routes out of Chicago, you can pick between the two.
Los Angeles is the most open of all. No airline has even a fifth of the seats. Delta leads at 20%, followed by United at 18%, American at 16%, Alaska at 10% and Southwest at 9%, plus dozens of foreign airlines. Only two of LAX's 138 nonstop destinations are served by Delta alone.
Why It Matters
Fortress hubs aren't all bad for travelers. If you live in one, you get a huge list of nonstop destinations, frequent flights and plenty of chances to earn status with one airline. Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth connect you to almost anywhere in a single hop, which is a nice perk when the alternative is a connection in a city you've never wanted to see.
The downside is choice, and it shows up in some unexpected places. An analysis of 5,000 domestic flights published this week by Thrifty Traveler found American charging solo travelers more than groups on about a third of the flights it checked, by more than $90 on average, and the practice was far more common on routes with little competition. About 65% of American's fares to and from Charlotte carried that solo-traveler premium, compared with just over a third across its network. Charlotte, of course, is the most lopsided airport in our count.
Disruptions hit harder too. When the airline that runs your airport has a bad day, whether it's a storm, a staffing shortage or a tech outage, there are few other seats to move to. At a contested airport like Chicago O'Hare, a canceled United flight often has an American alternative down the concourse. At Charlotte, the next flight out is usually American as well.
If you live near a fortress, it's worth checking the nearest competitive airport for big trips. Charlotte travelers sometimes drive to Raleigh-Durham, Dallas travelers can use Dallas Love Field, where Southwest dominates instead, and New Jersey travelers can compare Newark with JFK and LaGuardia. And if you live in Denver, Chicago or Los Angeles, you're in one of the best places in the country to make airlines compete for your business.
