Hubs and spokes

Reading

Lead in

Traveling by plane is the fastest and most comfortable means of transport for a businessman. You can sit back and relax, read, or even watch a video. Of course you have to pay more money and run the risk of being delayed. Some people refuse to fly for fear of accidents. However, According to statistics it’s a safe way to travel.

Do you agree with the above statement? Why/ Why not?

Ex 1. Expand your vocabulary for the topic:

hubs and spokes	узловое расположение с направлениями по окружности
radiate out in different directions	расходиться по окружности в разных направлениях
non-stop flights	беспосадочный рейс
to catch a flight	сесть на самолет
to change planes	делать пересадку
connecting flight	связующий перелет
delayed flight	задержанный рейс
to take off/ to land	взлетать/ садиться
domestic / international flight	внутренний/ международный рейс
scheduled flight / charter flight	регулярный рейс/ чартер
one-way/ round-trip	поездка в один конец/ туда и обратно
fixed return date/ open ticket	билет с фиксированной/ открытой датой
оvernight/ daytime	ночью/ днем
to make a reservation	забронировать
to book in advance	бронировать заранее
to stay in a hotel	остановиться в гостинице
have restrictions	иметь ограничения
non-refundable	невозмещаемый
to pay a cancellation fee	плата за отказ
accommodation and transfers	размещения и трансферы

Ex 2. a) Read the text and explain the advantages of hubs and spokes system of organizing the flights.

Domestic flights in the USA are organised on the principle of hubs and spokes, like a bicycle wheel which has a hub at the centre and lots of spokes radiating out from it in all directions. One such hub is Houston in Texas: flights to over 100 other airports radiate out in different directions from there and half of these are non-stop flights.

For example, if you want to get from Miami to Los Angeles, you can catch a Continental Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale (a few miles north of Miami and less hassle than Miami International Airport), change planes in Houston and fly on to Orange County (John Wayne Airport!) or Hollywood-Burbank Airport - both of which are much more relaxing and less crowded ways into Los Angeles than the appalling LAX (Los Angeles International Airport).

The hub and spoke network has made flights cheaper and means that even quite small places are connected to each other by a major airline or feeder service. Another advantage of the system is that connecting flights are to some extent guaranteed. If one incoming flight is up to one hour late, all the connecting flights (up to 30 or 40) will be held until it arrives. So if you're on a delayed flight, that's good news - but it's bad news for everyone else because they all have to wait for your plane to land.

From the point of view of overseas connections, many hubs also operate as entry points or 'gateways', where passengers flying in from another country can join the hub and spoke system.

The same type of system does operate in other parts of the world: for example, you can fly from one part of Europe to another via Frankfurt or Paris or Amsterdam or London, but the difference in other parts of the world is that the fares are not any cheaper so there's no special advantage.

Flying in to the USA it's advisable, if you possibly can, to avoid any major gateway, such as Los Angeles International, Miami and JFK (New York) in favour of a smaller gateway like Charlotte, Pittsburgh or Orlando.

b) Using the information in the text, complete each of these sentences. The first is done for you as an example:

1. If you want to get from Miami to Los Angeles, you can...

fly from fort Lauderdale and change planes at Houston, Texas,...

2. If you want to avoid flying into LAX (Los Angeles International), you should …

3. If your flight is less than an hour late, your connecting flight will.„

4. II you fly between London and Vienna via Frankfurt or Paris, instead of direct, the fare...

5. If you are entering the United States from abroad, you should...

c) Маке а short written summary of the text.

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