More passengers are bypassing congested hub airports and flying direct, as airlines take advantage of new jets to redraw their networks.

Since the dawn of the jet age airlines have flown large fuel-hungry planes on the busiest intercontinental routes. It connects major airports, before passengers transfer to smaller planes to connect across the region.

But advances in aircraft technology have put this “hub and spoke” model under pressure.

Airlines can now use smaller and more efficient single-aisle jets, normally associated with shorter flights, on long-haul flights, opening up direct routes that would otherwise be uneconomical for larger airlines.

Passengers flying United Airlines across the Atlantic next summer will be able to take direct flights from the US East Coast to destinations including Bilbao in Spain, Palermo in Italy and even Greenland.

“Smaller, fuel-efficient aircraft like the Boeing 737 Max 8 enable new nonstop service to increase leisure destinations reachable from the US East Coast,” said Patrick Quayle, senior vice- president of global network planning and alliances at United Airlines.

“Our point-to-point portfolio taps into the growing interest of various European locales,” he said.

Some senior airline executives say that, while the hub airport is not dead, passengers want to bypass the major airports, in part because of the disruption that has caused many congested hubs since the pandemic.

“We heard that there are passengers who are avoiding major hubs. . . where there are delays,” said Bogi Nils Bogason, Icelandair’s chief executive.

The changes have led to a change in how passengers use major airports over the past decade.

Among people who flew into the world’s 10 busiest international airports last year 55 percent flew directly to their destination, rather than connecting between flights. This is up from a nearly 50-50 split in 2015, according to an FT analysis of data from OAG, an aviation analytics company.

The trend is set to increase with the arrival of an extra-long-range member of the Airbus single-aisle A320 family, which offers a leap in performance. The aircraft took its first commercial flight in November.

The A321XLR can carry up to 244 passengers and has a maximum range of 4,700 nautical miles (8,700km) or 11 hours of flight time, thanks to the addition of an additional fuel tank in the hold that can carry approx. 12,900 liters of kerosene. This compares to the older A320, whose maximum range is 3,400 nautical miles.

European low-cost airline Wizz Air plans to use XLR to link the UK to Saudi Arabia on all-economy flights, while Aer Lingus and Iberia will fly the plane across the Atlantic.

Christian Scherer, head of Airbus’ commercial aircraft division, said that the arrival of the XLR is “the first time in a long time that a new aircraft with new capabilities is coming in the market”.

“So even though it’s a derivative of the 321, the fact that it opens up a whole new (range) of possibilities in that category of aircraft size, that’s a big thing,” he said. in the Financial Times.

The arrival of XLR “will create new opportunities,” said Icelandair’s Bogason. “We can still fly to North America in a very efficient narrow-body aircraft.”

The airline is considering flights to Texas, California and Dubai from its Reykjavik hub as the planes arrive.

“If the cost is lower, it’s less risky to start something new,” he said.

Airline and airport executives agree that hub airports still play an important role in flight networks, as the most efficient way to connect more people and place high-frequency flights on popular destinations. that route.

“Our hubs will continue to play an important role in our network,” United’s Quayle said.

London’s Heathrow airport said in December that it expected busiest time of the festivalwith a record number of passengers scheduled to pass through during the month.

But even hub airport bosses agree the ground is shifting.

“You could say that the business model is always under threat,” said Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of Heathrow, one of the world’s poorest hubs.

“Will we see places less dependent on hubs, especially because of XLR? Of course we will. But there are a large number of people who want to travel, many from places without major airports. So I don’t think the hub is gone,” he said at an industry conference in November.