One of the great strengths of a free-market system is that it allows business to experiment, to try out new products and markets. Sometimes they will succeed, and yes, sometimes they will not.
Which brings us to American Airlines and its “military strategy.” OK, it’s really more like an Army strategy — connecting far-flung major Army bases across the continental US to American’s major hubs, especially Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW). And yes, that includes — until Jan. 30, 2012 at least — Fayetteville, NC (Ft. Bragg) and Augusta, GA (Ft. Gordon).
As someone who follows the airline business, I get the reason for American to try places like Fayetteville from DFW. American has high costs — that would be a major reason why it entered Chapter 11 last month — and is doing something a bit different to find some nuggets to mine. I also see why it’s a questionable idea at best — long, thin routes on high-cost per available seat mile 44-seat regional jets is in a time of relatively high fuel prices is just not a good combination.
So it’s not really a surprise that American are dropping Fayetteville and Augusta. And given that they’re among the first routes being eliminated after the Chapter 11 filing, they are presumably among the biggest dogs in the airline’s route network. So there’s no reason to except either to return once the airline gets out of bankruptcy.
Bonus observation: Not sure how many people in Fayetteville realize they’re losing their Dallas flights. As near as I can tell, it hasn’t made the Fayetteville Observer yet.
