A few days ago American Airlines teased us on twitter that something big was coming. It was bizarre but also very intriguing.
(P.S. American – keep doing this)
Today we finally know what that was all about. American Airlines is launching 5 new international routes next year.
- 3 to Europe
- 1 to the Middle East
- 1 to Africa.
- Chicago (ORD) to Krakow, Poland (KRK)
- Chicago (ORD) to Budapest, Hungary (BUD)
- Chicago (ORD) to Prague, Czech Republic (PRG)
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Tel Aviv, Israel (TLV)
- Philadelphia (PHL) to Casablanca, Morocco (CMN)
4 of these flights will be seasonal summer flights and the Dallas – Fort Worth to Tel Aviv flight will operate year round.
In April of 2018, American Airlines ordered an additional 47 787 aircraft, which the carrier is expected to start taking deliveries of in 2020. This should help them operate these flights.
My Analysis
I love to see the growth and creativity here in American Airlines.
We knew that it wouldn’t be long before American re-entered the market to Tel Aviv; it’s too lucrative a market for them not to even try. DFW is a great market for this test too, as no other carrier has a direct flight from the middle of America to Israel. If this goes well, I’d expect them to try the same out of another city next year.
American Airlines is doubling down on Chicago to Europe, I for one think this is great and also necessary. Earlier this year American announced that it was stopping almost all of its Asia service’s from Chicago. It made me wonder if they were giving up in Chicago and planning for ORD to become a domestic only hub. The good news is that with these new international routes it now makes ORD a summertime gateway to Europe, including to some very odd destinations like Poland. By next summer, AA will have 10 European destinations with 9 of them being seasonal flights.
The last thing American announced, was its first flight into Africa. American is currently the only of the Big 3 not flying to Africa. If you think flying to Morocco seems like an odd choice for AA to start with, it isn’t. Royal Air Maroc (RAM), is joining the oneworld alliance next year and with the ability to connect with RAM to Europe, and many smaller destinations on the Western Africa coast, this makes perfect sense. I’m not sure PHL is the right market for AA to start with, as the northeastern corridor is pretty well served already but they will eventually find the right mix.
American Airlines bought TWA in 2001. TWA had routes around the world which American ceased to operate.
TWA had pilot bases in cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt, Zurich, Rome, and Athens. These bases were used to provide crews for the aircraft which TWA operated in its European route network. Its Boeing 727 aircraft served Cairo, Athens, Rome, London, Paris, Geneva, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Zurich, Amsterdam, Oslo, Vienna, and Istanbul.
So the idea that AAL is doing something new and innovative is out of touch with reality.
I agree with you Cruiser.American should have taken
advantage of the new routes they acquired from TWA.
Wow.
People kinda touchy on here. Lighten up.
It must be an “odd” travel writer to comment that Krakow Poland is an odd destination for Chicago. Obviously, the writer has not been there and is not aware of the number of Polish heritage people that live in Chicago alone. It is a totally sensible route given the demographics of Chicago and the attractions of that city.
There’s literally only one flight that current exists between the US and Krakow with LOT. If this wasn’t an odd destination there would be more service.
Literally none of the other big 3 have a single flight to Poland. Hate to tell you but this is an odd flight. Sorry If that offended you but it’s true.
“now makes ORD a summertime gateway to Europe, including to some very odd destinations like Poland.” You do realize that Chicago has a massive (1m+) Polish population, right?
“American is currently the only of the Big 3 not flying to Africa.” United does not fly to Africa either.
United has historically flown to Lagos and is restarting to Cape Town. AA has never flown to Africa.
I agree with ghostrider, OneWorld has lots of foreign carrier options that outperform AA in most, if not all categories. The last time I flew AA overseas was in 2016, ORD-MAN. I bought a ticket scheduled with the 787-8 to be on that route. They did not get their expected delivery on time, so I was on a 21-year old 767-300 with the entertainment screens at the front of the cabin. Absolutely disgraceful in this day and age to be flying a long-haul with the entertainment shown on a wall. I don’t mind shelling out a few extra dollars for a more comfortable flight.
I was expecting they might resume their flight services to India (DEL in particular). The kind of teaser they gave in their tweet, I’m particularly not impressed with the announcement.
Here’s the problem who wants to fly on AA unless of course your ok with lackluster service, poor food quality and cramped I repeat cramped seating. Secondly there are parts of the world that I prefer to fly foreign flags however in the end flying US metal internationally is akin to flying Spirit
What you write is completely unreadable. Please learn how to use commas, the difference between your and you’re, and basic punctuation. You can’t sound quirky and smart if you can’t write.