Many airlines should have already been rethinking their ‘hub’ models before the pandemic

November 10, 2020Except for some international routes that had a stable or growing number of connecting flights, the global trend was toward nonstop, direct flights.

Global connecting traffic at the global level has been falling between 2005 and 2019, but intercontinental flows are largely stable.

Global connecting traffic at the global level has been falling in recent years, but intercontinental flows are largely stable.

Share of connecting ticket passengers ¹ by flow, by September of each year, %
Type of traffic	% in 2005	% in 2019
Global	20	17
Europe to North America	46	45
Europe to Asia	45	50
Asia to North America	44	52
South America to North America	48	60

Notes

¹ Connecting passengers are counted twice (once arriving, once departing), so shares of overall connections are higher when looking at handled passengers. Source: International Air Transport Association Passenger Intelligence Services

McKinsey & Company

To read the article, see “Will airline hubs recover from COVID-19?,” November 5, 2020.