Monday 14 January 2019

USA: American Airlines Opens New Routes

American Airlines launched 26 routes between 18 December and 6 January, with the airline’s Charlotte Douglas (CLT), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Dallas/Forth Worth (DFW), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Phoenix (PHX) and New York LaGuardia (LGA) hubs all seeing new services.

The carrier has also begun a route from Las Vegas (LAS) to Tokyo Narita (NRT), although this route will only operate on a daily basis for the duration of the technology show CES 2019, taking place in Las Vegas between 8-12 January.

The route is also operated by Delta Air Lines during this period. Of the other 25 routes launched, six face direct competition. See how the FTWAs from Oaxaca and North Eleuthera compare to other entries from around the globe.

American Airlines launched a three times weekly service between Los Angeles and Buenos Aires Ezeiza on 19 December, with the first flight touching down in Argentina the following morning.

On arrival, a gift exchange took place, which was conducted by: Gonzalo Schames, Manager of Operations Argentina, Chile & Uruguay, American Airlines; Martin Eurnekian, President, Aeropuertos Argentina 2000; Guillermo Dietrich, Minister of Transport of Argentina; and Andrés Duncan Paterson, Sales Manager Argentina and Uruguay, American Airlines. No other airline operates the city pair.

American Airlines commenced flights between Dallas/Fort Worth and Oaxaca on 19 December, with a press conference being held at the Mexican airport on the day of the route launch.

Among those taking part in proceedings were: Juan Pablo García Luna Gutierrez, Administrator of the Airport of Oaxaca; Juan Carlos Rivera Castellanos, Secretary of Tourism of Oaxaca; Alejandro Ismael Murat Hinojosa, Governor of Oaxaca; and José María Giraldo, Director Mexico and Canada, American Airlines. The 1,765-kilometre route will operate daily.

American Airlines launched a daily service between Philadelphia and Mexico City on 5 July, with the US airport baking this fantastic cake to commemorate the new service, with the culinary masterpiece having been made by Night Kitchen bakery, a company with over 30 years baking expertise.

Seen posing with the route launch party showstopper are Olympia Colasante, VP Philadelphia Operations, American Airlines and Chellie Cameron, CEO of Philadelphia Airport.

American Airlines launched another international route from Philadelphia (PHL) on 5 July, beginning a daily service from the Pennsylvania hub to Mexico City (MEX).

The oneworld member will operate the 3,212-kilometre connection between Philadelphia and the Mexican capital daily utilising its fleet of A319s, with the carrier not expected to face any direct competition on the sector.

With this launch, American now serves two destinations in Mexico from Philadelphia, with it already operating to Cancun 15 times weekly this summer.

The USB3 carrier already serves Mexico City from Charlotte Douglas, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami. In total American will offer 97 weekly departures to Mexico City across its six routes from the US in S18.

American Airlines has commenced flights from three different hubs, all launched on 15 February. New A320 services from the carrier’s second-largest operation, at Charlotte Douglas (CLT) were started to Tucson (TUS).

Additionally, the oneworld airline kicked off a 2,403-kilometre link between Philadelphia (PHL), its fifth-biggest base in terms of weekly seats, and San Antonio (SAT), which is flown by its 128-seat A319 fleet.

Approximately 120,000 travellers fly between San Antonio and Philadelphia each year, so this new service answers the need for many travellers and is a highlight to our economic progress, said Russ Handy, Aviation Director for the City of San Antonio.

Finally, again on the same day, American began the airport pair from Washington Reagan (DCA) to Tallahassee (TLH), operated by its CRJ 900 aircraft. None of the new route trio has any direct route competition, and all will be operated on a daily basis.

American Airlines commenced six new US domestic connections on 3 April, with its bases at Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), New York JFK (JFK), New York LaGuardia (LGA), Phoenix (PHX) and Washington Reagan (DCA) all gaining at least one new service.

Of the six airport pairs which launched, only two face no direct competition, namely the sectors between Phoenix and Amarillo (AMA) and Reagan to Little Rock (LIT).

The average sector length of the six services is 949 kilometres, with the distances ranging from the 150-kilometre hop between JFK and Philadelphia (PHL) to the 2,338-kilometre route from Dallas/Fort Worth to Oakland (OAK).

American Airlines over the past seven days has launched 27 new routes, of which 24 were domestic. The only international connections inaugurated included a weekly (Saturdays) service between Miami (MIA) and Bonaire (BON), an airport pair which began on 9 June.

The others were between Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Calgary (YYC), plus Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Rekyjavik/Keflavik (KEF), with the latter two having launched two days earlier.

Of the 27 routes commenced by the oneworld member this week, only 15 are presently not served by another carrier. Of those which do face competition, 11 will go head-to-head with Star Alliance carrier United Airlines, including all nine routes introduced to American’s network from Chicago O’Hare.

The average weekly frequency of American’s new routes is 7.5, while the mean sector length is 1,627 kilometres.


Tourism Observer

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