USAirways is establishing a mini-hub at Ft. Lauderdale. Some of the cities they’ll be serving will be

Cancun, Mexico; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Panama City; Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic; Kingston, Jamaica; and San Salvador

Long-term this makes strategic sense: they’re serving a growing market. They’re going up against American, which dominates the region, but little else. Ft. Lauderdale is a good alternative to Miami, and Miami lost its major United service. USAirways has been building up its Carribean operations across the board, so their branding is strong as are their operations on the ground.

The problem is that USAirways hardly has time to operate a route until it gets profitable. And new routes generally start off slowly. So this could be an initial money-loser that USAirways can’t afford, even if the routes are in its long-term best interest.

Developing…