American unveils 4 new long-haul routes, major expansion for next summer
With September just a few weeks away, it's time to start thinking about all the trips you want to take next year.
As you plot your adventures for summer 2024, American Airlines will offer a handful of new seasonal routes and destinations to take you there.
The Fort Worth-based carrier on Thursday unveiled a major expansion for the upcoming summer season, which includes three all-new destinations, one new route and a service resumption.
Here are the details. Note that all of the new flights will be available for sale starting on Sunday, Aug. 20.
3 brand-new destinations
American's expansion is headlined by the addition of three new route-map pins, all of which are in Europe.
This includes:
- Copenhagen
- Naples, Italy
- Nice, France
The carrier will fly daily nonstop flights to all three of these destinations from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). Service to Nice begins on May 6, followed by Naples on June 5 and Copenhagen on June 6.
American will exclusively deploy the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on all three new routes. It will use the -8 variant — which features 20 Flagship Business pods, 28 premium economy recliners and 186 economy seats — to Naples.
Meanwhile, the other two routes will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which features 30 Flagship Business pods, 21 premium economy recliners and 234 economy seats.
As far as the onboard experience goes, American's -9 Dreamliners feature a top-notch reverse herringbone business-class product. The smaller "baby" -8 Dreamliners feature a mix of business-class products (one of which is arranged in an alternating forward- and rear-facing configuration). There's no telling which aircraft configuration will operate your flight.
In total, American will offer 15 daily nonstop flights from PHL to 14 European destinations next summer, representing its largest transatlantic schedule from Philadelphia since 2019.
That's major news for the city and for the long-term viability of this Northeast hub. American hasn't necessarily shown much love to Philly since it acquired the hub as part of the merger with US Airways.
For years, the airline hadn't added much new Philly service, especially throughout its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue, which saw a slew of new transatlantic services added from New York.
Now that the Northeast Alliance is dead, American seems to be turning its attention back to Philadelphia.
Earlier this month, the airline shifted the gateway for its splashy Doha route from New York to Philadelphia. It's possible that further expansions are in the works as American crystallizes its long-haul strategy.
As part of the Philly growth, the airline will also resume its PHL to San Antonio route next summer. This will boost the number of one-stop itineraries the airline can offer.
While Philly typically doesn't suffer from the same air traffic-related delays that American's New York hubs do, there is one downside to all this expansion in Philadelphia: There's still no Flagship Lounge in the city.
Philly is one of American's only long-haul hubs without a business-class-only lounge. Now that the airline seems focused once again on boosting long-haul service from PHL, hopefully, it will accelerate the construction that stopped years ago.
"We continue our commitment to offer customers a premium experience in the Philadelphia International Airport and will share more updates on the Flagship Lounge as they become available. Customers can continue to access the Admirals Club lounges in terminals A, B/C, and F," an American Airlines spokesperson shared in a statement.
1 new route
Aside from the new destinations, American will also add its fifth gateway — Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) — to Barcelona next summer.
The carrier will launch a new daily service on this 5,195-mile route beginning on June 5, operated by a Boeing 777-200. It features 37 Flagship Business pods, 24 premium economy recliners and 212 economy seats. (Much like the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, American offers two wildly different business-class products in the pointy end of the plane.)
Expanding service to Barcelona is seemingly a no-brainer. There's plenty of demand in the summer for this popular European city, and with the strength of American's mega-hub at DFW, it shouldn't have much of an issue filling the plane.
Service resumption and adjustments
While much of the focus is on the new routes and destinations, American is also boosting service on a plethora of existing routes. The full details are available in the table below.
The highlight is perhaps the service resumption from Chicago to Venice, Italy — a route that hasn't operated since 2019.
| Origin | Destination | Service Notes | Aircraft Type |
|---|---|---|---|
DFW | BCN | New daily service begins June 5, 2024 | Boeing 777-200 |
ORD | Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) | Resuming daily service on June 5, 2024 | Boeing 787-8 |
ORD | Athens International Airport (ATH) | Earlier seasonal restart on May 6, 2024 | Boeing 787-9 |
Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) | Dublin Airport (DUB) | Earlier seasonal restart on March 5, 2024 | Boeing 777-200 |
John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) | ATH | Earlier seasonal restart on March 31, 2024 | Boeing 777-200 |
PHL | VCE | Earlier seasonal restart on April 4, 2024 | Boeing 787-8 |
CLT | Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) | Expanding to year-round service | Boeing 777-200 |
DFW | DUB | Expanding to year-round service | Boeing 787-8 (winter) and Boeing 777-200 (summer) |
DFW | Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) | Expanding to year-round service | Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 |
PHL | BCN | Expanding to year-round service | Boeing 787-8 |
PHL | Lisbon Airport (LIS) | Expanding to year-round service | Boeing 787-8 (winter) and 787-9 (summer) |
All told, this announcement represents American's largest European expansion since 2019, and it's sure to please loyal flyers who've been craving some long-haul growth from the airline in recent years.
American has suffered from repeated delivery delays on new aircraft, and its network breadth has suffered because of it.
Now, it seems like things should all be settled by next year, and you'll soon find an American Airlines jet in more European cities than ever before.
To facilitate the expansion, American is making some minor tweaks to its currently published schedule. This includes suspending service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Santiago, Chile, for next summer, as well as reducing frequencies on the following three routes:
- Dallas/Fort Worth to Paris (from two times to one time daily)
- Miami to London (from two times to one time daily)
- New York to Rome (from up to two times to one time daily)
Finally, the airline is also making a few changes to its winter schedule to Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America.
You can find all of the details in the table below. This expansion builds on American's largest-ever schedule between the U.S. and these regions.
| Origin | Destination | Service Notes | Aircraft Type |
|---|---|---|---|
CLT | North Eleuthera Airport (ELH) | Expand to daily flights from Feb. 15 to April 3 | Bombardier CRJ 700 |
CLT | Exuma International Airport (GGT) | Expand to daily flights from Feb. 15 to April 3 | Bombardier CRJ 900 |
CLT | Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (MHH) | Expand to daily flights from Feb. 15 to April 3 | Embraer E175 |
DFW | Ezeiza International Airport (EZE) | Expand to daily flights starting Oct. 29 | Boeing 787-9 |
DFW | Cozumel International Airport (CZM) | Expand to two daily flights from Jan. 8 to April 3 | Boeing 737-800 |
DFW | Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) | Expand to daily flights starting Feb. 15 | Boeing 737-800 |
Miami International Airport (MIA) | Clayton J. Lloyd Airport (AXA) | Expand to two daily flights from Jan. 8 to April 3 | Embraer E175 |
MIA | Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) | Expand to three daily flights from Jan. 8 to April 3 | Boeing 737-800 |
MIA | Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) | Expand to three daily flights from Jan. 8 to April 3 | Boeing 737-800 |
MIA | Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport (EIS) | Expand to three flights on Saturdays from Jan. 8 to April 3 | Embraer E175 |
Related reading:
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- Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
- The best credit cards to reach elite status
- Everything you need to know about flying basic economy on American Airlines
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