What the hub era left, and the 2018 map

2001 — June 2018

Deregulation's map redrew itself at South Bend the way it did everywhere: The 1957 page's four carriers became, by succession, Republic and then Northwest on the northern routes, US Airways on the Pittsburgh line that Lake Central's routes had fed, TWA to St. Louis, and United to Chicago. The hub era ended each of them in turn: TWA was absorbed into American in 2001 and the St. Louis service did not survive the decade's hub closures; US Airways' South Bend service ended before the American merger era closed, and American Eagle's earlier Chicago service ended as well — the record reached for this section does not pin either withdrawal's year, and the gap is printed. What replaced the hub feeders was point-to-point leisure flying and thinner hub service, and the recovery's shape is fixed by a dated snapshot: when American Airlines restarted at South Bend — the word is Governor Holcomb's and the airline's own at the announcement on 18 January 2018 — with twice-daily CRJ-700s to Charlotte and Dallas/Fort Worth beginning 7 June 2018, backed by up to $750,000 of state incentive matched by $750,000 local as a revenue guarantee on the Dallas route, the airport's four carriers offered twelve nonstop cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Fort Myers/Punta Gorda, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New York/Newark, Orlando/Sanford, Phoenix/Mesa, and Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg. Newark is on that 2018 list and off the November 2026 map printed below; the date of its ending was not pinned in the sources reached, and that gap is printed with the rest.

Sources:

1. Indiana Economic Development Corporation / Office of Governor Eric J. Holcomb, release of 18 January 2018, and Aviation Pros, 18 January 2018 — American Airlines to "restart operations" at SBN, twice-daily Charlotte and Dallas/Fort Worth service from 7 June 2018 on American Eagle CRJ-700s, the IEDC incentive of up to $750,000 matched locally on the DFW route; the twelve nonstop cities then served by the airport's four carriers.
2. Moody on the Market, June 2018 — the inaugural flights, water-cannon salute for Flight 2871 from Dallas/Fort Worth, and the Gate 3 celebration.