From the report:
Long-haul travelers also prefer nonstops to connecting flights. While the A380 is wellsuited
to handle significant volumes of passengers in “hub-to-hub” service, this type of
operation forces travelers to endure additional connections that may not be necessary.
For example, to travel between Indianapolis and Bremen, Germany, today typically
requires two connections, with routings such as IND-IAD-FRA-BRE, or IND-DTWAMS-
BRE. The use of smaller aircraft such as the 7E7 or the A330-200 (or the 767, for
that matter) to add an Indianapolis “spoke” from Lufthansa’s Frankfurt hub, would
reduce the IND-BRE trip to a single connection and clearly would be a more desirable
alternative for high-yield business travelers than a double connection.
Is some of the most laughable justification for the 7E7 I've seen. These academics seem to think the entire world has airport's the size of Texas. How are BA or LH going to justify adding a low-yield service from Bumfu*k, Indiana to their major, heavily slot congested hub?
I mean, really!