Point-to-point transit

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Point-to-point transit refers to a transportation system where a plane, bus or train travels directly to a destination, rather than going through a central hub. This differs from the spoke-hub distribution paradigm in which the transportation goes to a central location where passengers change to another train, bus or plane to reach their destination.

In the airline industry, Southwest Airlines in the United States is a primary example of an airline that uses the point-to-point transit model. For example, there is a route between the Jacksonville International Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, to Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia. Currently, Southwest Airlines actually uses a hybrid system, flying point-to-point routes, but also connecting passengers through several smaller hubs at Phoenix Sky Harbor, Las Vegas McCarran, Dallas Love, Houston Hobby, Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington, Lambert-St. Louis, Atlanta, and a few others. It is doubtful if there is any true point-to-point airline, as most have at least a "homebase" airport where most flights originate or depart, which becomes a de facto hub, whether that is the intention or not. The United States airline industry was point-to-point until deregulation in the late 1960s/early 1970s when they switched to the hub concept.

Advantages

• It may minimize connections and travel time (only if the airline serves the destination via the origination point).

• With no need to satisfy connections, flights in a point-to-point system generally have no interdependency on other flights, apart from the operational constraints of the airline such as the number of aircraft and crew that are rostered to be in precise locations to satisfy the timetable. Overall, this therefore minimises the risk of a "domino effect" whereby one delay can multiply into other delays elsewhere in the network, therefore a point-to-point system is less prone to delays.

• Baggage does not need to be transferred by the airline from one aircraft to another; instead this responsibility is passed to the passenger, who must check in again for the second flight. Thus, there is less risk of baggage going missing, sustaining damage, or being loaded onto the wrong aircraft.

Disadvantages

• If a city pair is not served, passengers are out of luck, as there is no way to get to a destination if they use that airline's route network.

• The frequency of flights may be reduced because a point-to-point system requires a large number of combinatorics, as the number of city pairs is increased by many magnitudes.

Point-to-point routes by major hub carriers

Some heavily hub-oriented carriers operate a limited number of point-to-point routes that do not connect with either a hub or focus city. This is notable because they are exceptions to the route structure and network.

United States

• Alaska Airlines operates San Jose/Kahului, San Jose/Kona, Oakland/Kahului, Oakland/Kona, Sacramento/Kahului
• American Airlines operates Raleigh-Durham/London, Boston/London, San Juan/Caracas, Boston/Paris, Boston/St. Thomas
• Delta Air Lines operates Los Angeles/Honolulu, San Francisco/Honolulu, Orlando/Cancun, Orlando/Boston, Honolulu/Osaka, Honolulu/Seattle, Nagoya/Saipan, Miami/London, New York-LaGuardia/Fort Myers, New York-LaGuardia/Bermuda, New York-LaGuardia/New Orleans, New York-LaGuardia/Tampa, Los Angeles/Sydney, Seattle/Osaka, Seattle/Beijing, Cancun/Hartford, Washington (Reagan)/Miami, Washington (Reagan)/Orlando, Nagoya/Manila, Philadelphia/Los Angeles, Miami/Los Angeles, Cancun/Washington-Dulles, Cancun/Nashville, Cancun/Columbus, Cancun/Indianapolis, Cancun/Los Angeles, Cancun/Raleigh-Durham, Cancun/Milwaukee, Cancun/San Antonio, Cancun/Tampa, Osaka/Guam, Nagoya/Guam
• JetBlue Airways operates Burbank/Las Vegas, San Francisco/Austin and Oakland/Washington-Dulles
• United Airlines operates Bahrain/Kuwait, Hong Kong/Singapore, Hong Kong/Ho Chi Minh City, Honolulu/Orange County, Raleigh-Durham/Cancún, Austin/Cancún, San Antonio/Cancún
• Virgin America operates New York-JFK/Las Vegas

See also

• FedEx
• United Parcel Service
• Spoke-hub distribution paradigm (alternate shipping model)