American adds new shortest route to an all-new destination

At just 64 miles, American Airlines has a new shortest route — and it's flying to an all-new destination as well.

The airline announced this week that it would commence service to its seventh destination in the Bahamas: South Bimini Airport (BIM). American's regional affiliate Envoy Air will fly three weekly flights to Bimini from Miami on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays starting Feb. 14, 2026.

Flights will be operated on board the Embraer E175 regional jet, featuring 12 first-class recliners, 20 Main Cabin Extra extra-legroom seats and 44 standard economy seats.

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But perhaps the most interesting part of the announcement is that this will become American's shortest route. Despite being blocked for an hour, the flight should certainly take far less time than that. In fact, depending on air traffic patterns, you may end up taxiing in Miami for even longer than the flight itself.

Before this route, American's previous shortest flight was from Chicago to Milwaukee. The flight from Miami to Bimini is 3 miles shorter than the aforementioned route, according to Cirium schedules.

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The new flight is part of a push by American to expand access to leisure destinations across its network. This winter, the airline will operate more than 30 daily flights to the Bahamas during the peak season, and it'll also be the only U.S. airline flying to Governor's Harbour and Freeport. (Freeport is also served from the U.S. by the Bahamian flag carrier Bahamasair.)

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American has even added more frequencies to two Bahamian destinations — Marsh Harbour and North Eleuthera — for the peak winter holiday season.

Miami is American's key gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, so it makes sense for the carrier to expand service there to the Bahamas. The airline can offer one-stop connections to Bimini from more than 80 destinations across the U.S. and Canada.

Elsewhere, American is growing its domestic network with a far longer route. This time, it's from Charlotte to Palm Springs, California, which will connect the two cities for the first time with nonstop service.

That flight takes off Dec. 20 and will operate seasonally on Saturdays through April 18, 2026.

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