American Airlines Adds 7 New Summertime Routes to Montana and Alaska
American Airlines is betting big on Alaska and Montana for next year's summer schedule, announcing seven total new routes to the states.
The routes — all seasonal — will be spread across five of American's hubs and targeted toward outdoor travelers and enthusiasts of national parks.
"National parks are a huge attraction for many families," Vasu Raja, American's Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning, said in a statement. "This summer, we launched three new flights to Glacier National Park in Kalispell, and, next summer, we're expanding with more service to discover the natural wonders."
Chicago O'Hare (ORD) is getting two of the seasonal routes, with daily service to the Alaska cities of Anchorage (ANC) and Fairbanks (FAI). Each of the Alaska airports are close to park offerings in that state, too.
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Another two of the seven new routes will come from New York LaGuardia (LGA), and they're perhaps the most interesting additions of the bunch. From LGA, American will add Saturday-only service to the Montana cities of Bozeman (BZN) and Kalispell/Glacier National Park (FCA).
Normally,those routes would not be permissible at LaGuardia, which is governed by a "perimeter rule" that bars airlines from flights of more than 1,500 miles to and from the airport. There are two exceptions, however. Flights to Denver are exempted, as Denver was grandfathered in during the rule-making process. Also exempted are flights on Saturdays. Accordingly, both of American's Montana flights from LGA — Kalispell at 2,035 miles and Bozeman at 1,894 miles — will fly only on Saturdays.
Three of American's other hubs – Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX) and Philadelphia (PHL) – are each getting one of the seasonal routes.
American also will fly bigger aircraft on two of its existing seasonal routes to Kalispell/Glacier National Park, a destination American first began flying to this summer. In next summer's schedule, American will move from 76-seat Embraer E175s to 160-seat Boeing 737-800s for its flights to Kalispell from Chicago O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth. The carrier said it is making the move "based on the success of this year's new service."
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With the new routes, American says it will offer a combined 17 routes to Alaska and Montana in its 2020 summer schedule.
The full schedule of the new seasonal routes is below.
ALASKA FLIGHTS
Dallas/Fort Worth-Fairbanks
Daily service on Airbus A321 aircraft. Begins May 7 and runs through Oct. 6.
Chicago O'Hare-Fairbanks
Daily service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Begins May 7 and runs through Oct. 6.
Chicago O'Hare-Anchorage
Daily service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Begins May 7 and runs through Oct. 6.
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MONTANA FLIGHTS
Philadelphia-Bozeman
Saturday-only service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Begins June 6 and runs through Sept. 5
Los Angeles-Bozeman
Daily service on Embraer E175 aircraft. Begins June 4 and runs through Sept. 8.
New York LaGuardia-Bozeman
Saturday-only service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Begins June 6 and runs through Sept. 5.
New York LaGuardia-Kalispell
Saturday-only service on Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Begins June 6 and runs through Sept. 5.
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