American has long been the biggest US carrier to Latin America. Miami Airport is one of the only airports where I look at the American Airlines departures board and have no clue about several of the destinations. Their route network to Latin America is about to get even bigger.
American has just announced five new routes to Latin America — one is to Mexico, two are to Northern South America, and two are to “deep” South America. Specifically:
- American will fly between Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, Argentina, as of December 19, 2018, using a Boeing 787-9 (tickets go on sale April 2, 2018)
- American will fly between Dallas and Oaxaca, Mexico, as of December 19, 2018, using an Embraer 175 (tickets go on sale April 2, 2018)
- American will fly between Miami and Georgetown, Guyana, as of December 20, 2018, using an Airbus A319 (tickets go on sale April 2, 2018)
- American will fly between Miami and Pereira, Colombia, as of December 20, 2018, using an Airbus A319 (tickets go on sale April 17, 2018)
- American will fly between Miami and Cordoba, Argentina, as of April 2, 2019, using a Boeing 767-300 (tickets go on sale May 7, 2018)
As an aviation geek who knows airport codes pretty well, I’m embarrassed to admit that I had to look up a few of those codes.
While the routes to Colombia, Guyana, and Mexico, seem straightforward enough (purely based on the fact that the flights aren’t that long), the routes to Buenos Aires and Cordoba fascinate me most.
The route to Buenos Aires further establishes American’s dominance at LAX. They’re the only US carrier to have a nonstop flight from Los Angeles to “deep” South America, as they currently fly to Sao Paulo. Now they’ll be adding a second destination from there. I’ve always felt like there had to be demand for a flight between the west coast and Buenos Aires, given that there’s not currently an airline serving that market.
American 787-9 at LAX
When you look at American’s overall longhaul network out of Los Angeles, they beat both Delta and United by a long shot. American will fly to Auckland, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, London, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo Haneda, and Tokyo Narita. Add in the fact that they have a newly opened Flagship Lounge, Flagship First Dining, and that their terminal is actually complete, and they really beat Delta and United even further. Who knows when United’s Polaris Lounge at LAX will open, and Delta’s renovated terminal will be complete in 2023, so…
American Flagship First Dining LAX
American tells me that they Los Angeles to Buenos Aires flight will operate 3x weekly, while the Los Angeles to Sao Paulo flight will be reduced from 6x weekly to 4x weekly at the same time. So overall capacity to LAX only increases slightly, though personally I’d much rather have service to two South American cities on alternating days, than just a Sao Paulo flight.
Cordoba also seems like an interesting choice. While American flies to all kinds of places in Latin America, most of the non-mega cities they fly to are further North, where the flights aren’t that long. Operating a 4,000+ mile route to Cordoba is a pretty bold move.
What do you make of American’s expansion to Latin America? Do you plan on taking any of these flights?
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