[Metro Orlando Airport News]

Its "Wayports" not wayport. Go to the Wayports website at www.wayports.com or google the word Wayports to understand the concept. Wayports is a long-term 30-40 year nationwide system and is the air equivalent of the Interstate Highway System. Only 2 new large hub airports have been built at Denver and Dallas in the last 50 years and both replaced existing airports. No supplemental airports like Wayports have ever been built. During the last 50 years billions have been spent on Interstate Highways with millions spent every year to off-load and relieve surface congestion on local roads and highways. Orlando International was developed from an abandoned military base and is the equivalent of Denver and Dallas. OIA has a massive reservoir of capacity for passengers, cargo, USPS and express mail and next generation large aircraft like the A380 and B747-400. It is the only large hub airport on the East Coast with massive long-term capacity. OIA is a spoke in the hub and spoke system and is directly impacted when the hubs that have up to 80% connections like Charlotte and Cincnatti and Atlanta with 75% get bogged down. This is one of the reasons the hub system needs to be fixed. You have hit on the problem and it needs to be discussed nationwide and not just in Orlando.

OK, I think I see the confusion here. I think you are confusing hubs and wayports.

A hub is an airport that an airline uses to connect a large number of flights. A hub is connected to a number of other cities by direct flights, and flight arrival and departure times are coordinated so that passengers arriving on one flight are able to board a flight departing for another city within reasonable times. Most airlines utilize a number of hubs.

a wayport is one central airport in which ALL flights would theoretically fly into. Passengers from one flight would have to board a flight bound for a destination city, as a wayport does not serve local communities. Most wayport concepts involve one airline per wayport, although this is not absolutely required. Currently there are no real wayports in existence.

The big difference between a hub and a wayport, is that a hub serves both a local community AND as a connection point. A hub may be dominated by a particular carrier, but is not exclusive to that carrier. Some airports serve as a hub to multiple airlines. The other big difference between the most common forms of hubs and wayports is that an airline would have multiple hubs, serving different regions, while they would only have one wayport, centrally located.

So in our example, AirMerica, with a hub in Orlando, would connect flights in the souther united states to Orlando. It would also serve a number of more popular destinations outside the region, as well as to other hubs. If you were flying from a southern airport to a major city, or from a major city to a southern airport, you would connect through Orlando. If, on the other hand, you were maybe flying from Spokane, WA to Phoenix, AZ, you might connect through their San Diego hub. Anotherwords, a hub does not connect every last airport, and does not provide the sole location of connection.

Keep in mind that a hub is not a profit device. An airline cannot charge a passenger for flying through a hub (well, not over handedly). A hub is a way to to take a small number of passengers flying from one airport to another, and consolidate them with passengers from other regional airports flying to that same destination. Although it involves flying more miles, it can consolidate and cut costs.