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American Adds Europe Flights, Reduces Asia Routes

An American 787-9 at LAX (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Dallas/Fort Worth-based American Airlines has made a large route announcement involving added European service and modified Asia service. For Europe, American will add routes from their Charlotte, Dallas – Fort Worth, Chicago’s O’Hare, Philadelphia, and Phoenix hubs. While adding more European routes, the carrier is also reducing its Asian service from Chicago O’Hare. The new routes are as outlined by American below.

Charlotte: New daily year-round service to Munich, Germany (MUC).

Dallas/Fort Worth: New Daily summer seasonal service to Dublin, Ireland (DUB) and Munich (MUC).

Chicago O’Hare: New Daily summer seasonal service to Athens, Greece (ATH).

Philadelphia: New daily summer seasonal service to Edinburgh, Scotland (EDI); new summer seasonal service to Berlin Tegel, Germany (TXL), Bologna, Italy (BLQ), and Dubrovnik, Croatia (DBV).

Phoenix: New daily seasonal service to London, England (LHR).

A breakdown of dates, frequency, and aircraft types are listed below

CLT- MUC begins 3/31/19 once daily operating on an Airbus A330-200.

DFW-DUB begins 6/619 and runs until 9/28/19 operating once daily on a Boeing 787-9.

DFW – MUC begins 6/6/19 and runs until 10/26/19 operating once daily on a Boeing 787-8.

ORD-ATH begins 5/3/19 and runs until 9/28/19 once daily on a Boeing 787-8.

PHL-EDI begins 4/2/19 and runs until 10/26-19 operating once daily on a Boeing 757.

PHL-TXL begins 6/7/19 and runs until 9/28/19 four times a week on a Boeing 767.

PHL-BLQ begins 6/6/19 and runs until 9/28/19 operating four times a week on a Boeing 767.

PHL-DBV beings 6/7/19 and runs until 9/27/19 operating three times a week on a Boeing 767.

PHX-LHR begins 3/31/19 and runs until 10/26/19 operating once daily on a Boeing 777-200.

American stated in its press release that flights operating on board the 767 will have lie-flat business class seats featuring amenity kits from Cole Haan and chef-designed meals accompanied by award-winning wines. Other aircraft configurations were not mentioned.

“By providing the only nonstop service from North America to Bologna and Dubrovnik and adding Berlin to our international footprint, American is making it easier to see the world,” said vice president of network and schedule planning, Vasu Raja. “Through our Atlantic Joint Business, we have seen increased interest to these markets from the U.S., and adjusting our network to introduce these destinations will provide more choices for customers on both sides of the Atlantic.”

In addition to the recently announced European routes, American also previously added Philadelphia to Budapest, Hungary, and Prague, Czech Republic this summer. The carrier also added Chicago O’Hare to Venice, Italy along with Dallas-Fort Worth to Keflavik, Iceland. All these routes are seasonal though, ending in October 2018. However, they will resume next summer.

Atlantic Joint Business partners Finnair and British Airways have also been adding new routes between Europe and the U.S. According to American, Finnair announced new service between Helsinki, Finland and Los Angeles starting on March 31, 2019.

British Airways and American now jointly operate 70 daily flights to London from North America.

Currently, the only nonstop flights from Charlotte to Munich is operated by Lufthansa. Aer Lingus is the only carrier currently offering nonstop flights from Philadelphia to Dublin. One World partner British Airways is the only carrier serving Phoenix to London nonstop.

In addition to the new European routes, American Airlines has also canceled numerous flights including flights to Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

From Philadelphia, American will end service to Glasgow, Scotland on Sept. 29, 2018, Munich on March 30, 2019, and Frankfurt, Germany on Oct. 27, 2018.

From New York’s JFK airport, American will end service to both Dublin, Ireland, and Edinburgh on Oct. 27, 2018, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Nov.3, 2018. 

From Chicago O’Hare, American will end its service to Manchester, England on Sept. 3, 2018, as well as its year-round service to Shanghai, China on Oct. 26, 2018. 

From Dallas/Fort Worth, American’s service to Puebla, Mexico will end on Dec. 18, 2018.

From Los Angeles, the carrier will end service to Toronto, Canada on Dec. 18, 2018.

From Fort Lauderdale, American will end its year-round service to Port-au-Prince on Nov. 3, 2018.

In the announcement made by American, the carrier stated that it plans to resume Chicago to Shanghai once the market allows. A dormancy waiver from the U.S. DOT is currently in the works to allow the potential return. American is working with Pacific Joint Business partner Japan Airlines (JAL) to accommodate passengers that booked tickets on ORD-PVG after the service ends.

“We remain strongly committed to Asia and will continue to serve the region through our hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles,” continued Raja. “Our Chicago-Shanghai service is unprofitable and simply not sustainable in this high fuel cost environment and when we have opportunities to be successful in other markets.”

Along with canceling ORD-PVG, American will also reduce Chicago to Tokyo’s Narita from daily to just three times a week. This change will take place on Dec. 18. With joint business partner Japan Airlines, ORD to NRT will still be served 10 times a week with JAL increasing service in June and August.

“These adjustments to our Asia service are necessary in this high fuel cost environment but we remain committed to the network we’ve worked hard to build,” said Raja. “As with Shanghai, American will continue to serve Tokyo through our hubs in Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles.”

Matthew Garcia

Author

  • Matthew Garcia

    Matthew Garcia became interested in aviation at the age of 12 when he installed Microsoft Flight Simulator X on his computer. He was instantly "bitten by the bug" and has been in love with aviation ever since. Matthew took his first introductory flight in 2013 and began normal flight training in February of 2015. Over the years, Matthew's love and knowledge for aviation has grown tremendously, mainly due to FSX. Garcia flies highly advanced aircraft in a professional manner on a highly complex virtual air traffic network simulating real world flying. In 2016 Matthew achieved his private pilot certificate from the FAA. Now he studies journalism at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

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