They are also collection points for passengers and cargo traveling to and from the immediate region to other parts of the country or points overseas. Airlines schedule banks of flights into and out of their hubs several times a day. Each bank includes dozens of planes arriving within minutes of each other. Once on the ground, the arriving passengers and cargo from those flights are transferred conveniently to other planes, that will take them to their final destinations. At a hub, travelers can connect to dozens, sometime hundreds, of flights to different cities, and often can do so several times of day.
Travelers enjoy the advantage of staying with a single airline.
A city of 100,000 residents, for example, is unlikely to generate enough passengers to any single destination to fill more than a handful of seats aboard a commercial jet. However, it may very well generate passengers going to a number of different destinations. Operating a jet into a hub, where passengers can connect to dozens of different cities, therefore, makes economic sense for small-city markets. Geographic location, of course, is a prime consideration in deciding where to put a hub. Another is the size of the local market.