In several recent analyses we focused on the variation in hub design and its impact on scheduling. In one we explored how Emirates uses a banked hub, turning Dubai into an extraordinary global super hub. As a reminder, a banked hub is where arrivals and departures are organised in sequential concentrated groups to maximise the number of connecting route pairs.
The analysis also showed that significant costs that banked hubs incur. Using the example of Australia, we shows how Emirates scheduled flights to/from Australia to connect to/from specific banks in Dubai, requiring aircraft to endure significant ground times in Australia (e.g. Emirates has 5 A380s spending nearly 60 hours on the ground in Australia each day).
Another analysis used this methodology to help understand Qatar Airways’s Doha hub and their scheduling strategy vis-à-vis their joint venture with Virgin Australia. It highlighted how each hub is different, with a varying number of connecting banks with varying breadth and depth.
This new analysis is somewhat more simplistic: rather than taking a detailed analytic approach to each hub like we did with Dubai, it extends the methodology to a more generalisable level with consistent and comparable figures and metrics. Using ADS-B data, we counted the number of scheduled arrivals and departures per hour by the home carrier at each hub. Data was drawn over an identical two day period to account for routes that aren’t operated daily and removing duplicates generated by daily flights (that would otherwise be double counted).
The consistent figures allow easy identification of inbound and outbound banks, and the balance between banked and rolling hubs. Later, we’ll look at some statistical metrics.