Last week we found out that Delta bought a 20% stake in LATAM , also that LATAM will be leaving the oneworld alliance in the near future. This was a huge blow to LATAM’s oneworld partners, more specifically American Airlines.
Miami International Airport
LATAM’s strongest US market is in Miami. They have offered flights from Miami to:
| Belem, Brazil | Lima, Peru | Salvador, Brazil |
| Bogota, Colombia, | Manaus, Brazil | Santiago, Chile |
| Buenos Aires, Argentina | Quito, Ecuador | Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Cancun, Mexico | Recife, Brazil | |
| Fortaleza, Brazil | Punta Cana, Dominican Republic |
American Airlines also has its South America hub in Miami and with the impending LATAM split, American is now going on the offensive. American Airlines announced today that it will be increasing service on 3 key routes.
American will increase service from Miami to Lima as of 7th April 2020
The airline currently flies 2x daily with 1x B767-300 and 1x B757-200. It looks like with the new service they will fly 3x daily with B757-200, which doesn’t come as much of a surprise as the 767’s are due for retirement beginning in 2020.
American will increase service from Miami to Santiago
as of winter 2020 on board a B777-200
American will increase service from Miami to Sao Paulo
as of winter 2020.
The airline will operate a total of 3x daily flights, with 1x daily flight on board the B777-300ER and 2x flights operated by the B777-200
American Brings Back Transatlantic Flights From Boston
American Airlines will also be bringing back transatlantic flights from Boston, with a new daily non-stop service to London (LHR) as of March 29th 2020 using a Boeing 777-200.
American did have a seasonal transatlantic flight from Boston to Paris (CDG) that ended a few years ago. The airline never put much effort into it, which was a bit of a surprise given the amount of international expansion at Boston Logan International airport in the past 7 years. Whereas their competition Delta Air Lines has had lots of international growth from Boston, which has led to them labelling Boston as a strategic gateway.
I imagine that this new American Airlines route is intended to directly contend with their most recent rival, Delta. Although the field is already crowded with 4x daily British Airways flights, 2x daily Virgin Atlantic flights, 2x daily Delta Air Lines flights and 1x daily Norwegian Air flight.
Extended Summer
The last announcement American Airlines made today, was to extend summer! Something I think we can all get behind. They will be extending the seasonal schedule for a handful of flights below:
In Conclusion
It’s nice to see American put up a fight. It seems like management knows that their in for a battle, especially in Miami. In recent years American Airlines approach has appeared to be to just maintain the status quo, clearly that isn’t going to work here.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see more South America announcements in the coming months, as we slowly learn about LATAM’s exit from oneworld.
Agree with everybody else. AA has a lot of ex Eastern and even Ex Braniff people, so the South American originators are comfortable flying with them; U.S. originators know AA’s international service, particularly in premium cabins (other than the 757-200’s) is tops. And American’s MIA hub is well organized.
AA hands down. Latam can’t even touch the ground experience AA offers in Miami. I just had an excellent dinner in the Flagship First dining room ( Krug Champagne and Wagu Beef ) that Latam will never be able to replicate. Love the Casper bedding in the premium cabins!
I would rather fly AA. Being based in Miami Latam isn’t much of an option especially with them leaving ONEWORLD. Latam will lose all connections in Miami. It looks like AA will make Latam’s Miami operation very unprofitable.