American Airlines adds 8 new and expanded leisure-focused routes
American Airlines is back with another round of route adjustments.
On Friday, the Fort Worth-based carrier unveiled a slew of new leisure-focused routes from its Philadelphia (PHL) hub for the summer schedule.
Specifically, the carrier confirmed the following four new routes...
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Daytona Beach, Florida (DAB)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Salt Lake City (SLC)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Traverse City, Michigan (TVC)
... and expanded service on the following four routes:
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Hilton Head, South Carolina (HHH)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Key West, Florida (EYW)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Nantucket, Massachusetts (ACK)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ)
Three of the four new routes will be operated daily. Santiago service — a new American route from Philadelphia — will be limited to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule on a mix of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 fleet from April 2 to Aug. 16.
The three new domestic routes will be operated daily beginning June 3. American Eagle partner PSA Airlines will fly the Daytona Beach and Traverse City flights with a TK-seat CRJ-700.
Cirium schedules show that American began Philly to Daytona Beach service in December 2020, so it's clearly been performing well enough for the carrier to extend the service through the summer. Traverse City is a new American route from Philadelphia, per Cirium timetables.
Salt Lake City service will also start June 3 and continue year-round aboard an Airbus A320. Cirium schedules show that American converted Philadelphia to Salt Lake City service to seasonal during the winter of 2018, so it's been roughly three years since the carrier flew to the Utah capitol during the summer.
The four routes with expanded service were all previously planned for once-weekly Saturday flights. Now, they'll be flown daily, except for Santo Domingo, which will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Key West flights are year-round; the others will be operated seasonally during the summer.
American Airlines has been busy over the past few weeks, adding new routes and boosting service to leisure-focused destinations.
In e arly January, the carrier unveiled new flights from Philadelphia to two Florida destinations — Panama City (ECP) and Destin-Fort Walton Beach (VPS), as well as a third route from Boston (BOS) to Hilton Head, South Carolina (HHH).
One week later, American expanded service from its Dallas/Fort Worth mega-hub to both Daytona Beach and St. George, Utah, among other schedule updates.
Other airlines: Delta charges into leisure markets with latest route shakeup
The common theme across all the latest route adjustments is the focus on outdoor-friendly destinations with plenty of room for social distancing.
With the pandemic raging, airlines are boosting service on leisure-focused routes in the hopes of capturing the limited demand that's flying right now.
Just this week, Southwest unveiled four new Florida and Hawaii routes, while United boosted its Denver hub with a four-route Florida expansion.
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