Originally Posted by
GrahamO
Could you explain a little further as that makes no sense to me - ULR may multiply but it'll never replace n flights a day between major capital cities and Dubai surely ?
Many of the flights to Dubai are for passengers not going to Dubai but flying through. I fly to Atlanta often twice a week but I have only wanted to actually go to Atlanta about three times in the last 5 years. As soon as the thin ULR routes allow pax to go direct to destination then the number going to interchange hubs like Dubai will reduce to a level that an aircraft with a 400 seat capacity cannot be justified. This is especially the case with the fuel economy (and freight carriage) available from smaller twin jet widebodies. It is probable that several hubs will see their interchange traffic reduce and it may affect the airlines based at those hubs in the same way that direct flights from low cost carriers cherry picking attractive thin routes, have reduced the market for spoke-hub-spoke flights from the majors in the US.