American Launching Service from LAX to Sydney, Australia

Update: American will launch daily service between Los Angeles and Sydney beginning on December 17, 2015 with the 777-300ER. Additionally, Qantas will begin service from San Francisco (SFO) to Sydney on December 20, 2015.

Big news at LAX today! Yesterday, we received word of an event with American Airlines President Scott Kirby — at 1pm PT today, the airline will reveal plans for its “trans-Pacific gateway hub,” and following the airline’s tweet this morning, the cat kangaroo is out of the bag. AA will launch service to Australia. It’s not clear which down-under destination will score an LAX flight, or which aircraft will operate it, but we’re betting on the new 777-300ER, given that even Sydney is at the tail end of the smaller AA Dreamliner’s range.

There are currently five daily flights between LAX and Sydney — two on AA partner Qantas, and one each on Delta, United and Virgin Australia. Qantas and Virgin Australia both offer service to Brisbane as well, and Qantas and United fly LAX to Melbourne (with United’s service operated by an extended-length 787-9).

The new flight will be welcome news for AAdvantage members, but given the popularity of Australia flights, business and first-class availability might be tough to come by. Currently, one-way flights from the US to Sydney run 37,500 miles in coach, 62,500 miles in business and 72,500 in first — these rates would apply to the new flight(s) on AA metal as well.

For more on Australia:

• Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Sydney City
• Destination Of The Week: Sydney
• United GlobalFirst Review: Los Angeles – Sydney – Melbourne
• Sydney Restaurant Recommendations