American Airlines is teasing flights to 5 international destinations. Honestly, these weren’t that hard to figure out!
Can you guess the 5 closest airport codes? ✈️ Your next destination might be hiding in plain sight. 👀
These are the 5 cities:
- Quito, Ecuador (UIO) based on the photo of Basilica del Voto Nacional. American currently flies twice daily from Miami. I assume we’re getting a new gateway, rather than a third Miami flight. So would that be an Airbus A321XLR from New York JFK? Or a Boeing 737 MAX from Dallas?
- Naples, Italy (NAP) the photo is actually Positano. United and Delta offer New York service. I’m going to guess this will be a new summer seasonal flight that complements their service from Philadelphia.
- Munich, Germany (MUC) based on the photo of Nymphenburg Palace. Currently, American Airlines serves Munich only from Charlotte. It’s always seemed to me like they should have been trying to do Philadelphia and Dallas.
During the summer it seems like Munich – Philadelphia would be possible on an Airbus A321XLR (though I suspect the westbound flight would have problems in winter). Iberia has done Madrid – Santo Domingo with the aircraft, and that’s basically hte same distance and their plane has more seats (heavier, burns more fuel, shorter range). Of course that’s an aircraft that won’t give them cargo capacity.
- Copenhagen, Denmark (CPH) the photo is Nyhavn harbor. American already flies Philadelphia – Copenhagen, so I’m going to guess summer Dallas.
- Santiago, Chile (SCL) based on the skyline. American flies daily to Santiago from Miami.
Do you agree with my read on the cities? What are your guesses for routes and aircraft?
AA already operates PHL-NAP
Good guesses
@AG — Gary literally already said “American already flies Philadelphia – Copenhagen, so I’m going to guess summer Dallas.” I guess no one actually reads the article, just the headline. How fun!
@Gary Leff — More capacity to Latin America (SCL, UIO) sounds like AA still has hurt feelings ever since it lost LATAM to Delta/SkyTeam.
It’s a shame the Ecuadorians force everything through Quito and Guayaquil, because a nonstop to SCY or GPS with, say, an XLR from MIA or DFW would be really cool for those just wanting to go directly to Galapagos.
Likewise, it’s a shame the Chileans and Argentinians, for the most part, force nearly all international arrivals to their respective countries through SCL and EZE, because nonstops directly to CJC for Atacama or MDZ for wine would be cool.
Could probably do the same for Cusco in Peru with all the Machu Picchu traffic. Iquitos for the Amazon, anyone? Again, with aircraft like XLR, you can do this kind of direct, nonstop, long-haul, even from NYC for a few of these.
Are these new rountes, if so, my guess is the return of DFW-SCL year around? Or fight LA/DL and relaunch JFK-SCL??
I would guess DFW-UIO, DFW-NAP (could see MIA perhaps), PHL-MUC, ORD-CPH (would be surprised but maybe an outside chance of JFK?), and DFW-SCL.
Surprised we don’t see a destination that likely would be served from JFK on the XLR like NCE though technically NAP would be viable in the IATA summer but on the upper end of the XLR’s range.
PHL-OPO was already announced to add to these routes, but AA still has a ways to go.
I am guessing more of this is going to Chicago. JonNYC said 3 new longhaul from Chicago to be announced. Also AA flies ORD to NAP. ORD To MUC and CPH are flown by competitors- maybe coming…
@Adam Blonder do you have a link to that Tweet on 3 long-haul routes from ORD? I don’t see it on X. I wonder if that would include ORD-NRT.
Of those long-haul routes then ORD-CPH would make sense b/c SAS is a subpar airline with a meh lounge and onboard product, so going H2H with them especially if the POS on that route is US-heavy shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.
Going H2H with Lufthansa though if they do ORD-MUC… would be interesting and not very like AA. Lufthansa is also not what it once was, but ORD-MUC is an Allegris route
@1990 – There are probably a dozen reasons not to have direct foreign flights to the Galapagos. As it turns out, your convenience doesn’t rank highly on the list of considerations.
That’s not new routes, that’s just engagement bait….
So much business travel for insurance, banking, finance, and law between New York and Munich, with high fares – because LH and UA like it that way. PHL would be mostly leisure travel, and only in the eastbound direction . . . but that’s where they’ll probably do it from because American isn’t interested in competing with anybody.
@Mak DL literally tried and failed on JFK-MUC and cut the route just 2 years ago. The POS on US-Germany routes is different than most of Europe since it’s heavy German POS and that end is very loyal to LH.
If DL couldn’t make it work then how is AA, an airline with roughly half the JFK slots and NYC share as DL supposed to. It’s fair to critique AA for running away from competition, but that route is not the example to use.
Since we’re all playing VP of route planning, (You’ve been VP of route planning for exactly how many airlines?) I’d dump PHL, build back ORD and JFK. No XLRs during the summer peak periods. Despite retards TD stroke and his cucking for DL, shilling for a greedy corporation AA dodged a bullet with the failure of LATAM and the fallout. AA is still the biggest carrier US-LATAM.
AA used to have PHL MUC (an old US air route). Makes no sense they would only do MUC from CLT.
“Could probably do the same for Cusco in Peru with all the Machu Picchu traffic.”
No, CUZ sits at an altitude of 10,860 ft. The altitude won’t permit long-haul routes.
I’m betting on PHL- CPH/MUC, ORD – NAP, DFW – UIO(req. govt approval) DFW – SCL(resumption)
How about LAX-SCL? I’m amazed at the lack of directs from the West Coast to South America – LATAM’s flights from LAX to SCL, LIM, and GRU are it. No surprise that LATAM charges a massive premium on these routes.
@tda1986 — And, nearly every reason is a political choice, not a technical barrier (the XLR can get it done). Immigration, environmental controls, etc. all can still be done, as with many island destinations, but of course, Ecuador and local Galapagos authorities would prefer status quo, which, yes, absolutely is not convenient for foreigners, which bring a majority of the lucrative ecotourism. Are you one of those ban-all-visits to save-the-ecosystem types? Or just a stickler for local Ecuadorian protectionism? Or a mere contrarian?
@brteacher — Well-aware of the altitude (I’ve been; it’s intense). However, with aircraft like the XLR, it is technically possible, say to MIA (distance, fuel), but would just need to be weight restricted departing CUZ, as with other high-altitude airports. The bottleneck is financials, because most airlines won’t want to take a loss on empty seats or less cargo. But, to say it’s impossible would be a lie.
AA flew DFW-MUC pre-COVID, I’m guessing relaunching that is the MUC flight.
I would be disappointed if it happens, but SAS may drop ORD-CPH or perhaps cut the route back further as SAS gets very limited Delta feed to and from ORD. Additional SAS cutbacks at ORD would help American to do ORD-CPH at least seasonally.
@Sal.
AA has never flown DFW MUC in it’s entire history.
@Rkerr
AA flew DFW-MUC in 2019
https://www.fox4news.com/news/american-airlines-begins-nonstop-service-from-dfw-airport-to-dublin-munich
I believe DFW MUC was a planned route in 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic
To those who still think my hypotheticals unrealistic, fine, they are indeed unlikely, but this type of ‘niche, high-yield, boutique medium/long-haul’ route is basically what United is doing with Nuuk (GOH) and Ulaanbaatar (UBN).
So, if the regulatory hurdles were overcome (especially for Galapagos), the technicality of, say, a seasonal, weekly, artificially-restricted payload yet high-margin-per-rotation ‘expedition’-style flight, perhaps, MIA-CUZ/GPS/MDZ, would be akin to running a luxury charter with a flight number. It’s been done elsewhere; sure, it’s not really ‘normal,’ but could be done, here. Aircraft like XLR make it more possible. To use corporate-speak, it’s a ‘strategic opportunity,’ not a pipe dream.
Think of the marketing opportunities! *slaps a photo of Machu Picchu on a brochure* (“You’ve already been to Quito, and Buenos Aires! Go nonstop to where you actually want to be.”) *photo of sipping wine in Mendoza with the Andes in background*
@Pilot93434 — Have you met @DesertGhost? He frequently uses the silly ‘You’ve been (CEO) for exactly how many airlines?’ line, too. It’s lame gatekeeping at best. Let folks share their ideas!
PHX-SCL would make me happy this time of year, PHX population growth isn’t stopping and still under-served for international routes per capita. No big obvious reason like the chip plant bringing the TPE route, but hey why not.
AA doesn’t care about business travellers anymore…only adding flights to aging baby boomers doing their bucket list trips before they die. I remember the days they served business travellers with 3x-4x/week routes like ORD-DUS . When all the old farts die in a few years, or can’t do their int’l journeys in their wheelchairs, maybe they’ll come back and cater to the int’l travelling working folks.