Looking through the Intercity routes and it appears that all flights either depart or arrive at one of the hub airports (please correct me if I'm wrong). As an example, Duty 2 has the following flights:

ICX13    EGLC    EGNS
ICX14    EGNS    EGLC
ICX15    EGLC    EGNM
ICX16    EGNM    EGLC
ICX17    EGLC    EGJJ
ICX18    EGJJ    EGLC
ICX19    EGLC    EGNM
ICX20    EGNM    EGLC
ICX21    EGLC    EGJJ
ICX22    EGJJ    EGLC

All flights depart a hub airport (in this case EGLC) and then return the next flight. This is the same for all Duties from what I can see. To mix things up a little on some routes would it be possible to look into having intermediate stops? For example:

EGLC -> EGJJ -> EGJB -> EGLC

or

EGLC -> EGJJ -> EGJB -> EGJJ -> EGLC

I'm sure there could be a few other suitable routes that would allow for something like this although I assume it would make an already difficult task of creating a schedule a bit (or a lot!) more difficult.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Cheers,
Serge

I wanted to do this when we first started but it makes scheduling significantly more complicated. Doing it with existing routes (for example the duty you posted above) would require a lot of rescheduling, because if you change one thing you break about 5 others (as always in life, it would seem)!

I'd certainly consider it for the future as it would open up many new routes but for now it's more work than I can handle so we'll have to remain within the "operating base" hub-spoke model for the foreseeable future.

I like the idea of intermediate stops also.
I fly out of EGLC and have made there my base and think it would be nice to do a round trip through three diferrent airports before returning to EGLC.
However I  can imagine the amount of work will have to go into planning and managing something like that.
Perhaps Chris, we should look at enlisting "Hub Managers" who can look at such things for the specific main hub and submit ideas and schedules with timings to you and senior mangement for consideration. We may even one day need to consider "Fleet Captains" who can work closely with senior management dealing with aircraft and route specific issues.
I enjoy realism to the max.

Thanks for considering this Chris although it certainly appears you have your hands full. Perhaps Graham's idea has some merit if it will help take some pressure off you. I'm sure there are a few pilots around here who would be willing to assist you with any tasks that could be delegated (within reason).


Cheers,
Serge