Airlines went to hub and spoke route systems when:

a. their routes were deregulated after 1978.

b. fuel prices changed.

c. larger aircraft were introduced.

The airlines went to the hub and spoke when (a) their route got deregulated in 1978. The hub and spoke structure became the criteria for many airlines in the United States, 1978, after the Federal government deregulated the airlines. Before the deregulation of the routes, the structure under operation was the direct-route, where the federal government forced the airlines to operate between two small points. The results of this were almost empty airplanes causing them to lose money.

The hub is a central point where aircraft get routed to, and the spokes are the routes taken by these airplanes from the hub points. Today, several airlines have a central location that their planes have to pass through. From that point, the spokes take passengers to their various destinations. An example of this is the Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, which acts as the hub for Delta airlines.f