Focus city
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In the airline industry, a focus city is a location that is not a hub, but from which the airline has non-stop flights to several destinations other than its hubs. For example, Northwest Airlines has focus city operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which serves 17 non-hub destinations[1] as of March 2009.
Compared to a hub operation, flights from focus cities are often less frequent, served by smaller regional aircraft, and cater more to origin & destination traffic instead of connecting traffic. Connections are often available by default, however, due to the number of destinations/frequencies served by a single operator (sometimes in conjunction with operational partners).
The term "focus city" is somewhat of a misnomer, since it generally refers to an airport rather than a city. For example, US Airways has focus city operations at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, but not at the two other major airports for the New York City region: John F. Kennedy International Airport (also in Queens), or Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. Other terms with equivalent meaning are "hublet", "mini-hub", "key city."
Focus cities are also commonly used by low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines, WestJet or Ryanair that primarily fly point-to-point and thus do not have large concentrations of hub operations.
Currently, Continental Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines are the only 3 US carriers with no focus city operations.[citation needed]
