American Airlines Cuts Summer Flights by 10%
by Jessica Montevago
American Airlines said on Tuesday that it will reduce capacity for the summer by 10% “given the drop-off in demand related to COVID-19." Photo: Shutterstock.com.
American Airlines became the latest domestic carrier to announce flight cuts in the wake of plummeting demand due to the coronavirus global crisis.
American Airlines said on Tuesday that it will reduce capacity for the summer by 10% “given the drop-off in demand related to COVID-19,” from frequency reductions on most routes to routes where “customers can be easily re-accommodated.” That includes a 55% reduction in trans-Pacific capacity, and a 7.5% decrease in domestic capacity in April.
In Europe, service to Rome from Philadelphia will be suspended effective immediately through the end of April, along with flights from Chicago and Charlotte through early summer. The carrier will also extend the suspension of service to Milan.
American Airlines will delay the seasonal resumption of flights to Barcelona from Charlotte and to Venice from Chicago until early June. Flights to Rome from New York (JFK) and Dallas-Fort Worth will also be delayed through the end of April. The operation of the second daily flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Rome will be suspended for the summer.
Service to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Madrid will also be reduced for parts of May and June.
Of the trans-Pacific flights, service to mainland China and Hong Kong from Los Angeles will be suspended through the summer. Service to mainland China from Dallas-Fort Worth will be halted through the summer, while service from Hong Kong from Dallas-Fort Worth will only be suspended through June. The suspension of flights to Seoul, South Korea from Dallas-Fort Worth will be extended into early May.
Flights to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and Haneda International Airport from Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth will be operated with smaller widebody aircraft beginning in May.
Flights to Montevideo, Uruguay, from Miami will become seasonal, with service ending in May and resuming in December. Flights to Santiago, Chile, from Dallas-Fort Worth will be suspended through April.
Widebody aircraft will be redeployed on key domestic routes in American’s network. The carrier will also introduce new seasonal service between Chicago and Honolulu this summer on a Boeing 787-9.
JetBlue and United Airlines also decided to cut capacity domestically, by 5% and 20%, respectively. United’s trans-Pacific flights will make up about half of the planned 20% in cuts for April, with service to Europe and Latin America also affected. United’s domestic flights in the U.S. and Canada will drop by 10%.
Delta Air Lines, meanwhile, announced on Monday that it is temporarily suspending service between Atlanta and Rome through April and is delaying the seasonal Detroit to Rome service until May.
