American’s May schedule will have only 10% of its usual international flying, and about 20% of its domestic flying.
They’ve just announced what they’re planning to fly internationally for summer. It’s much more ambitious, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it further pared back.
- Summer Europe, for instance, has a longer advance booking curve than most travel. If people aren’t buying their Europe trips for the summer in the next few weeks, many of those purchases won’t happen.
- We are likely to have a window this summer where we can travel. Not everywhere will lift restrictions at the same time, and there may be stricter scrutiny of international arriving passengers, but July and August could be the time to get out – before, sadly, another potential wave of shut downs may come from a virus ‘second wave’ in the fall.
American plans to operate about 40% of last summer’s international schedule: 80% reduction in transpacific flights; 65% reduction in transatlantic flights; 48% reduction in Latin flights. And they’re suspending 25 summer seasonal flights, hoping to bring them back in 2021, and delaying to 2021:
- New regular route launch delays: Philadelphia – Casablanca, Seattle – Bangalore, Chicago – Krakow
- New winter seasonal service delays: Los Angeles – Christchurch, Dallas Fort Worth – Auckland
Here’s American’s plan for Pacific service:
| Origin | Destination | Schedule change |
|---|---|---|
| DFW | Auckland (AKL) | Inaugural flight moves to winter 2021 |
| DFW | Hong Kong (HKG) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Tokyo-Haneda (HND) | Inaugural flight moves to July 7 |
| DFW | Seoul (ICN) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Beijing (PEK) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| DFW | Shanghai (PVG) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | AKL | Seasonal service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | Christchurch (CHC) | Inaugural flight moves to winter 2021 |
| LAX | HKG | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | HND | Service resumes July 7; twice-daily service resumes October 25 |
| LAX | PEK | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | PVG | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | Sydney (SYD) | Service resumes Oct. 23 |
Europe and Africa service plan:
| Origin | Destination | Schedule change |
|---|---|---|
| BOS | London (LHR) | Inaugural flight moves to October 25 |
| CLT | LHR | Service resumes July 7; twice-daily service resumes October 2020 |
| CLT | Frankfurt (FRA) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| CLT | Munich (MUC) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Amsterdam (AMS) | Service resumes June 4 |
| DFW | Munich (MUC) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Dublin (DUB) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Frankfurt (FRA) | Service resumes June 4 |
| JFK | Barcelona (BCN) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| JFK | Paris (CDG) | Service resumes July 7 |
| JFK | LHR | Service resumes June 4 |
| JFK | Madrid (MAD) | Service resumes July 7 |
| JFK | Milan (MXP) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | LHR | Service resumes June 4 |
| MIA | BCN | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | CDG | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | MAD | Service resumes July 7 |
| MIA | Milan (MXP) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| ORD | Athens (ATH) | Service resumes June 4 |
| ORD | BCN | Service resumes July 7 |
| ORD | DUB | Service resumes June 4 |
| ORD | LHR | Service resumes June 4 |
| PHL | AMS | Service resumes Oct. 7 |
| PHL | BCN | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| PHL | CDG | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| PHL | DUB | Service resumes Oct. 7 |
| PHL | Rome (FCO) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| PHL | LHR | Service resumes June 4 |
| PHL | MAD | Service resumes July 7 |
| PHL | Manchester (MAN) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| PHL | Zurich (ZRH) | Service resumes July 7 |
| PHX | LHR | Service resumes Oct. 7 |
| RDU | LHR | Service resumes June 4 |
Latin America service plan:
| Origin | Destination | Schedule change |
|---|---|---|
| DFW | Buenos Aires (EZE) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| DFW | São Paulo (GRU) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Lima (LIM) | Service resumes July 7 |
| DFW | Santiago (SCL) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| JFK | EZE | Service resumes June 4 |
| JFK | Rio de Janeiro (GIG) | Service resumes Dec. 17 |
| JFK | GRU | Service resumes June 4 |
| LAX | EZE | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| LAX | GRU | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | Brasilia (BSB) | Service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | EZE | Service resumes May 7; twice-daily service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | GIG | Service resumes June 4 |
| MIA | GRU | Service resumes May 7; twice-daily service resumes Oct. 25 |
| MIA | SCL | Service resumes May 7 |
These are the routes that will not operate this summer as planned:
| Origin | Destination |
|---|---|
| CLT | BCN |
| CLT | CDG |
| CLT | DUB |
| CLT | FCO |
| CLT | MAD |
| DFW | FCO |
| DFW | MUC |
| JFK | FCO |
| ORD | Budapest (BUD) |
| ORD | CDG |
| ORD | FCO |
| ORD | Krakow (KRK) |
| ORD | Prague (PRG) |
| ORD | Venice (VCE) |
| PHL | ATH |
| PHL | BUD |
| PHL | Casablanca (CMN) |
| PHL | Dubrovnik (DBV) |
| PHL | Edinburgh (EDI) |
| PHL | Reykjavík (KEF) |
| PHL | Lisbon (LIS) |
| PHL | PRG |
| PHL | Shannon (SNN) |
| PHL | Berlin (TXL) |
| PHL | VCE |
Hopefully customer demand, government regulation, and the state of the world will support this – and perhaps I’ll even be hopeful for a moment and suggest that a strategic opportunity to add a flight or two might arise.
@ Gary — I am betting against a summer window.
Not seeing DFW-MAD, but I am certainly not expecting it to start in early summer. I’ve got tickets for mid June and they still don’t show the flights as canceled.
were these announced on april 1st?
This summer is a write-off, I don’t even see how we can start school again by August? At which point will they cancel baseball season?
Nice list. Depressing, but nice. Interesting that American hasn’t officially cancelled my family’s flights to Budapest in May.
April and May in the U.S. along – given that current estimates among various NY/CDC heads say NY might peak late/end of April. Peak. Then there’s the down slope into most of May, if not all.
So looking at June 4 for a start for some of the flights. Most optimistic.
Also, demand will play a role. There will be many indeed who want to get out and about regardless if Bubonic Plague itself was raging all around them; many want to return to their home countries of origin, but there will be many who will refrain for a while from risking getting COVID-19 aboard a packed petrie dish in the sky. Pull the trigger on the lock down too early and we could be right back to where where we were. Not so? Read up on what happened in China yesterday: Lock down 2.0. It’s baaaack. Or rather it never went away in the first instance. Communist lies.
August might be best and I am going to avoid the fall as I am following various medical reports that their could be a second wave – as their was in 1918 – which could prove more violent, virulent and devastating than what is now taking place.
Pretty amazing – scheduled DCA-LAX-HKG in late July. AA EP here, looked in the app, the LAX-HKG segment was just erased. Notice, e-mail, anything? Nah, why bother! AA continues to amaze.
Sounds similar to the endless delays of resuming 737 MAX service.
Announce a schedule, load it – then cancel and re-load for a new schedule two/three months later.
AA has great practice this.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Pointless scheduling at this point — because, let’s face it, nobody knows — but I am stunned by the number of extremely pessimistic posts here. I guess humans are just prone to believe the end of the world is near. The USA virus data looks better than expected tonight. But everyone seems to be ramping up for the apocalypse. If there were Vegas odds, I’d bet on “humans” and not “virus.”
Gary – what is the status of DFW-NRT and vice versa? I see where DFW-HND begins service July 7 but don’t see NRT listed. I think DFW-NRT is still operating – perhaps on a limited schedule??
I have an AA NRT-DFW segment in late September. Still shows a go in my reservation. Comments?
This is aimed at business travel and cargo verses leisure for sure. Smart to connect the main US int’l hubs to their oneWorld counter parts. This is a huge reduction from last summer and I am sure it will be adjusted as time goes on. We all just have to be flexible and adjust as needed.
If I was still going to the UK in June, I would have had to fly to DFW or LAX and lose my non-stop from PHX. At least BA and AA both have those flights coming back (yeah) as the PHX economy and the state of AZ planned for this unlike 2008-9. We are in a much better place and should come back strong this fall.
Advice please: I have award travel June 1 LHR to LAX. A one way return flight home. It’s in between AA’s current cancellation deadline of May 31 and prior to their summer plans commencement on June 4. Any hope I can get AA to cancel and redeposit the miles, and reimburse taxes, fees, and upgrade costs?