American Airlines is adjusting its international network, citing “soft” demand, the war
in Ukraine, and COVID-19 for the changes.
American confirmed to Insider on Thursday the airline is dropping seven international
routes this winter, many of which the carrier doesn’t currently operate.
Of the seven routes, two Seattle to Bangalore, India, and Dallas/Forth Worth to Tel Aviv,
Israel, had been postponed since they were announced.
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And in today's video, we are going to talk about “BIG American Airlines Changes!”
So without any further ado, Let's begin.
American cites “reduced” or “soft” demand for most of the adjustments, with no
mention of the delayed 787 Dreamliner deliveries as the reason for the adjustments.
Perhaps the most two interesting cuts are the Seattle to Bangalore and Dallas-Fort Worth
to Tel Aviv routes.
These hotly anticipated flights were first announced in early 2020 and 2021, respectively,
and neither of them has yet to take off.
American Airlines says it is dropping a flight from DFW International Airport to Tel Aviv,
Israel, that was announced nearly three years ago but delayed several times due first to
the COVID-19 pandemic and then aircraft delivery delays at Boeing.
Fort Worth-based American is also cutting flights from DFW to Lima, Peru, in November
and has pushed back the restart of flights to Beijing and Shanghai until at least summer
2023 amid China’s aggressive “zero COVID” policies.
The carrier is also cutting or delaying a handful of international flights out of Seattle
and New York.
American is typically so focused on funneling everyone through major hubs (including Dallas
for international, and Charlotte and Phoenix for domestic), yet Israel is a different market.
Israel has a ton of demand directly from certain markets, but there’s obviously not as much
demand for connecting traffic from between the coasts.
The reductions come after American was forced to cancel five summer routes over delayed
deliveries of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, from Philadelphia to Shannon, Ireland.
However, a company spokesperson told Insider that none of its winter cuts were due to the
delayed jet.
Despite the changes, there is some good news for Americans.
In October, the carrier will bring back its seasonal service between Miami and Montevideo,
Uruguay, the carrier told Insider.
The flight will operate thrice-weekly but will increase to daily during the holidays.
The airline is also relaunching service to Auckland, New Zealand, in October.
American cites “reduced demand” as the reason for canceling flights between DFW and
Lima, Peru, and between New York City’s JFK and both Cali and Medellin, Colombia,
effective Nov. 3, 2022.
The carrier will continue to serve all three cities from its Miami hub.
Interestingly, the Cali and Medellin routes were originally announced in conjunction with
an expansion of the Northeast Alliance tie-up with JetBlue.
It’ll be interesting to see if American adds services elsewhere to compensate for
these cuts.
“Due to soft demand, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the planned service between
Dallas/Ft.
Worth and Tel Aviv (TLV),” American Airlines spokeswoman Gianna Urgo said in a statement.
“American is committed to Israel, we currently serve TLV from Miami and New York-JFK.”
The flight from DFW Airport to Lima is also being cut because of “soft demand,” according
to a memo to American employees from Jose Freig, the company’s vice president of international.
While American is dropping routes, rival United Airlines is currently rolling out the biggest
international route expansion in its history.
The carrier added five new routes in April, and just launched service to all-new destinations
in May, including Amman, Jordan; Ponta Delgado Azores, Portugal; and Bergen, Norway, with
two more cities coming in June.
Unfortunately, two of American’s most highly anticipated new ultra long haul routes won’t
be launching anytime soon.
American no longer plans to fly from Dallas to Tel Aviv due to soft demand, and will instead
focus on existing flights from Miami and New York.
Meanwhile American is delaying its Seattle to Bengaluru route until at least the summer
of 2023, with Russian airspace closures being blamed.
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