In recent years, summer demand for travel between the United States and Europe has been through the roof, so we’ve seen US airlines add as much capacity there as possible. Every year, we see airlines tweak their European route network a bit, based on both capacity and demand, and announce new services.
Continue reading: American Adds Seven New Europe Routes In Summer Of 2025
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
AA cancelled IT MIA/MXP service during the pandemic and never brought It back. That daily flight used to be always packed. There's still no carrier offering direct service from MXP to MIA, while ITA does have a daily flight between FCO and MIA. American picking FCO over MXP, where they'd have no competition, is beyond me.
I honestly thought PHL-MXP would be a year round A321XLR add, as it would greatly complement JFK-MXP and maybe even future MIA-MXP.
I still see it going year round with a narrowbody, with Milan being a business hub and all.
The timing of the route is actually perfectly set up to be the first winter XLR route. Summer 25: Fly with the 788 then be the first XLR route in the winter
You write: while United’s 787-9s have 28 business class seats and 787-9s have 48 business class seats
I think you mean United's 787-8s have 28 business class seats.
I find it kind of weird that MIA-FCO starts in July... that seems late for a summer seasonal route.
It makes a ton of sense if you look at the demand statistics (shared by LAXDude123 on Airliners.net). Miami - FCO (Rome) has demand for 235 passengers daily each way while Miami - MXP (Milan) is 85 (30 more if you add Linate). This route should do very well for AA.
Add in the connecting and additional demand you would get for Southern Italy to Rome, and even with the competition it's a bigger market than MIA-MXP. The latter seems like a perfect opportunity for the A321XLR perhaps next year.
On a side note, HND will see 789s from all hubs, which helps the rotation I guess. Today, the 772s from JFK go straight back to JFK, while the 788s rotate between 2x LAX and 1x DFW departures.
They really need to upgrade HND flights, especially since LAX-HND routes are consistently sold out.
It is a country alongside England, Northern Ireland, and Wales... all part of the United Kingdom
https://www.gov.scot/publications/building-new-scotland-independent-scotland-eu/pages/7/
"Scotland is a country within the multinational state of the United Kingdom. Following centuries as an independent nation, in 1707 the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of political union with England. "
The Dutch also appear to Chime in on the topic: https://www.government.nl/topics/brexit/question-and-answer/which-countries-make-up-the-united-kingdom
Or the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18023389
And the Guardian has a few quotes on the topic, pro and anti "country": https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-84806,00.html
Someone flunked geography/history.
Scotland is country within a multinational state, and has been since 1707.
once again, nothing for the NYC-based flier.
given my lack of upgrades (same experience Ben describes in his other article) and not many exciting international routes out of NYC will lead me to abandon AA status.
WFBF
Why would AA want to focus on two extremely important high yield global business centers when their strategy is clearly to focus on overweight American leisure travelers wanting to take Mediterranean cruises?
For TPAC flights business class capacity is 19 seats for 788 and 29 seats for 789 due to 1 seat has been blocked for pilots.
Such a shame to see American behind on route network. Just can't help myself. Don't really want to but forced to fly United all the time to get to Asia and Europe these days. Would love to return
Curious...the 787 doesn't have the overhead crew rest for flight deck upfront? Do they have the overhead crew rest for the FAs in back?
I think they hoped to serve Switzerland through JetBlue who was apparently recruiting in GVA. But that's going nowhere now.
When they get their XLRs they might reconsider. They're the only ones of th US big3 not serving CH from New York and the only ones not serving GVA.
Something tells me the MIA-FCO might be more inverse-seasonal like the CDG route was. Lots of Italians vacation to Miami/board cruises from here. The July start date seems to time well with the busy vacation time of ferragosto the following month.
Even with the addition of flights to Madrid from Chicago, AA will still be lagging UA quite a bit with regards to flights to Europe and Asia from ORD.
In terms of seats, AA may be correct that it offers "more service to Spain than any other US airline," but UA wins on diversity of routes. UA has the only nonstops to Malaga and Palma in addition to the bigger cities. I can only hope AA's service to secondary cities improves when they start getting XLRs.
Finally a route to EDI and I don’t have to change plane in LHR and I don’t have to go to NJ or NY and can stay in PA. Thank you AA. EDI is such a walkable city and they speak English with a different accent. Love the bagpipes also.
The 787 Overhead Crew Ready facility has two beds and one chair, whereas the 77W has two beds and two chairs. Since there's only one seat upstairs on the 787, they have to provide a second seat in the cabin if there are four pilots, since there are two on break at the same time who might both want to sit in a chair.
On a flight with three pilots, however, there's only one pilot on break at a time, so the single seat in the bunk is adequate.
It's not a country in the modern sense of the word - a country would have its own currency, say, a UN seat, a military etc. In the modern sense the UK is in the country which Scotland is part of. The powers that Scotland has have been devolved to it from the UK. But historically and culturally it's a country and in British parlance it is too, or a "nation". It also has some of the trappings of a country such as an international football team. So it can be called a country but it's not the same as the US or France or Indonesia say.
I've always wanted to go to EDI for the architecture and walkability, but I'm usually a foodie tourist and stick to places like Paris, Barcelona, etc. I probably have outdated views on Scottish food being crappy. Is it a good food city now?
American has historically operated Miami-Paris year-round since it launched in 1992. The only summers it did not operate were 2020, 2023 and 2024. This just brings it back to normal.
That’s demand without non-stop. Florida stimulates, at minimum, 100%. And indeed in 2029, MIAMXP was at 260 PDEW.
American had Edinburgh at JFK pre-Covid.
But with the ‘wonderful ‘merger, they took the flight away from JFK and brought it to Philly ( really?)
It’s like AA wants to decimate any flying at JFK. And it’s terrible terminal is a prime example of its lack of interest with New York.
Delta is definitely the way to go. Routes, terminal, customer service. Top-notch around.
AA definitely cares more about the leisure traveler, and that is such a shame!
Using your words, a country would have its own currency. You mean like France?
May be for the best!
I would never fly with AA or any American airlines to anywhere outside the US; I never do, actually.
There are a lot of good or great restaurants in Edinburgh. Kora and Borough, for instance, are both great. The food scene will never rival London or Lyon, but it's not too shabby.
Where is Timmy's analysis about how DL makes more money than AA across the Atlantic!
AA and, ergo, OW are a complete joke from ORD vs *A. It's cute that AA will have a flight to MAD. So now, hub to hub, the OW options from ORD will be to LHR, HEL, and still MAD (ok - DUB, if we want to include that). Compared to *A and BRU, ZUR, VIE, LIS, FRA, MUC, WAW. Sure, losing SAS hurt but, as a Chicago guy, I hate that going almost anywhere in Europe involves a connection in LHR if I fly OW. *A is just the obvious winner and ITA will bring yet another option.
Yeah - cause soooo much service is what - a daily flight from DFW, CLT, MIA, DFW, PHL and now ORD - OK, plus IB codeshares to ORD and BOS and LAX and DFW?
IB already flies this year-round. I can't imagine there's enough demand for 2 daily flights in winter. While Iberia's flight crews aren't always the most pleasant, I'll chose an IB A330 or A340 anyday over a cramped AA 787. Oh yeah - not to mention that IB has delicious DO&CO food catered from MAD.
I had no idea AA is currently flying so many 787-8s to PVG and especially to HND/NRT. Not only do they have a small number of destinations but many of the routes are operated with the smallest international plane.
So surprising, given the JV with JL.
Delta's Terminal 4 is absolutely horrendous as well. Old, tight, not designed for being a hub...
AA gave up on the Asia-Pacific market a few years ago. It abandoned its West Coast bases of operations as major hubs. They have certain must-have routes but that's it. The strategies developed by Vasu Raja and Brian Znotins have led to this and more at AA. Interestingly, in a recent interview, Mr. Raja acknowledged that his strategies were wrong.
AA gave up on Asia years ago. The decision was actually made pre-COVID and it took a couple years to unwind/close its pilot base at LAX.
AA will first deploy its new XLRs on NY to Europe routes, as opposed to transcon routes. On the surface, using XLRs for secondary European destinations seems smart. The problem is that XLRs don't have the capacity for cargo, the revenue from which makes or breaks the economic viability of a route. In a few years, we'll see whether AA maintains XLRs on TATL routes. I have my doubts.
Left unsaid and probably deliberately due to uncertainty of delivery, is where the new premium heavy 787/9s will fly. Hence, it's probable that some heavy premium routes like to Tokyo where currently advertised only as a /9 aircraft could end up being switched to the new /9s. The net increase in seats over the current /8s is only 10 seats *244 vs 234, but massively switched to premium seats.
Left unsaid and probably deliberately due to uncertainty of delivery, is where the new premium heavy 787/9s will fly. Hence, it's probable that some heavy premium routes like to Tokyo where currently advertised only as a /9 aircraft could end up being switched to the new /9s. The net increase in seats over the current /8s is only 10 seats *244 vs 234, but massively switched to premium seats. Regarding the XLRs I doubt very much that they will deploy them to Europe before 2026. They have an imperative need to reposition their Transcon offering and with only some 14 XLRs due to arrive thru the end of 2024 that will be absorbed completely on Trancon.
I've had better meals in Edinburgh than Barcelona (not that I'm complaining about Barcelona).
I assume then connecting airports will become more crowded. I guess most passengers will be transiting there.
The 787-8 is better suited for adding routes that could become 321XLRs (or as part of an aircraft shuffle on other routes) while the 787-8 is too expensive per seat to operate on transpacific routes that are over 12 hours long and require 4 pilots. the 787-9 adds more seats and Asia is recovering.
It is also notable that AA is shifting its transatlantic adds to the eastern US rather than building up DFW as it has done. PHL is the last best hope for AA to have a major presence in the NE to Europe and the XLR will have to be a part of that future while you need only look a couple hundreds down I 85 from CLT to see what DL manages to fly from ATL to Europe (and S. America, Africa and Asia as well). Assuming it can build the international arrivals capacity, AA at CLT should be capable of supporting more flights to Europe.
PHL is a destination that no-one from Europe wants to fly to/visit. It's a dump. Americans might be used to hub airport model, but most Europeans want to fly direct to the city they actually want to spend time in e.g. NY, Miami, Boston, Washington, LA, Denver, etc.
Bouncing around hubs is a pain in the butt for Europeans. AA might have slots and TATL routes out of PHL, but you're probably going to see the ratio of Europeans vs Americans 10/90 of your passengers instead of around 50/50 ratio at other routes above. And that doesn't seem like a model for success in my mind.
Nah, just the 90% who don't want to fly via PHL. Your 10% can hub through there with you all year long.
Right - they might as well brag about having "more ways to reach Madrid and Barcelona" than any other airline.
That's great and all, but I prefer UA's approach of having more nonstops into more cities, both in Spain and across secondary cities in Europe. Because the last thing I want after a long redeye is a layover to get on a regional jet to SVQ, PMI, AGP, etc.
It seems from the schedule that American will swap aircraft in Athens with the JFK flight. So a 777 will operate JFK-ATH-CLT and a different 777 will operate CLT-ATH-JFK.
PHL is made for connections on the US side, not for Europeans. It's pretty obvious that even w/ JVs the local carriers are still dominant.
UA flies mostly Americans, ANA flies mostly Asians. This is true w/ the European carriers. Delta/AA fly mostly US pax, VS/AF/KLM/BA fly mostly European ones.
It's part of why Delta flopped with their LAX/LHR route w/ 50% LFs, but VS can maintain well into the 80%, despite being "metal neutral"
@Tim Dunn
...or anyone else that has the knowledge or time to look this up....
Do JV's include cargo?
Also, understand the comments/skepticism about the XLR's cargo capability, but the Airbus website plays it up; up to 10 containers "unique" containers or pallets. With XLR pax configuration likely skewing towards premium / less dense pax loads, therefore there is some cargo space to work with (?). The dedicated cargo variant does indeed have much less range than the pax version (as with all pax to cargo conversions), but that's solely based on main floor cargo loads, so it really shouldn't affect performance of pax configured operations and networks.
Still very limited compared to widebodies, but that's also why I asked the question about the JV's in terms of how cargo can be routed via JV alliances.
Thoughts? Info?
it depends on the JV but cargo and passengers are not "standard" items in US carrier JVs.
Airbus will tell you the cargo capacity but doesn't tell you how much of that will involve passenger baggage.
The XLR still will have little cargo capacity with full pax and bags even with 150 passengers (which is about what AA and UA will put on their premium configured XLRS - and DL will put on its transcon premium configured NEOs which are not XLRs).
The XLR can carry documents and relatively light high value cargo but not much more than that.
Any chance the larger machine to Japan ties into the World Expo in Osaka. Should be a fair amount of business class interest and then connecting onward to Osaka.
To be fair, Philadelphia isn't usually the first or even third choice for most foreigners who want to visit the US, unless they have family there. Not saying they don't want to visit it at all, just that places like DC, NY, Miami, LA, Boston, etc, are more popular choices.
I love how you're tossing around blanket statements with zero numerical corroboration.
Charters are one thing, but no airline plans an entire season's worth of network/equipment usage, based on a convention or sporting event.
"the revenue from which makes or breaks the economic viability of a route."
That's an aviation-geek trope that just refuses to die. While there are some rare exceptions (Lima for example), very few longhaul routes are made or broken by cargo. It's a nice plus to have, one which can be immediately invalidated any given day by a change in weather, strong winds, or a closed diversion alternate.
You cannot plan longhaul routes around cargo, in general. That simply does not work.
Great, and comfortable, high speed train service in Madrid to most all other cities in mainland Spain and easy to get, by train, to the train stations from the airport, so no need to take regional flights. Renife now has high speed competition that also has a combination ticket so no need to buy a separate train ticket to get to the train station you need from and to the airport. I do love the train service in Europe and especially in Spain. I'm not much of a fan of Barcelona these days -- way too many tourists clogging the city center.
PHL is not a bad airport these days. Philadelphia is not a bad city to visit either. In my humble opinion, it is nicer than either LA or Miami. Lots of history and good train service to DC, NYC, and Boston. The airport will be much better when the big Admiral's Club in Terminal A reopens.
Had to fly CLT to MAD a couple of weeks ago. There is no decent lounge there. Lines to get into the Admiral's Club with no guarantee of a seat, the terminals are ridiculously crowded, and there is no decent place to eat. At least getting through customs and security was quick.
LOL, lived in Center City Philadelphia for 4 miserable, horrible years. Great place to visit....once. Oh gosh ! THAT was bitter !
We took the train last winter from Madrid to Malaga and back to Madrid. Definitely recommend taking the train. It was fun, quick and inexpensive. Same in Italy, we took the train from Milan to Rome, up to Florence, etc. We also took the train from London to Manchester and back.
It seems trains in Europe are very accessible and convenient.
Edinburgh is not a new destination. AA flew there from PHL in 2019 with 757s and then in 2021 with 787-8s. It was cut due to widebody shortages.
As someone who lives in PHL its great to see the airline adding more destinations since the airline has so much potential here, but the hub is still a shell of what it was pre-pandemic.
Odd that they add Miami to Rome, in competition with ITA Airways, and they ignore Miami to Milan, that they canceled with Covid and never resumed.
In my memory that flight was always full, even though they were flying the old 767
Ah yes, just what Venice wants, a bunch of loud overweight flyover state Americans schlepping in from Dallas.
No one has pointed it out that all these new AA routes are DAILY service. Meaning you have much more flexibility if plans change, and you can plan around your schedule not the airlines. Nearly all of Delta's new routes are 3 days a week. That is not customer friendly.
So basically avoid those cities, as they now come with extra Americans next summer....
AA's further addition to its summer 2025 schedule is a fairly low-risk way to grow the oneworld JV's presence esp. to continental Europe where DL/AF/KL are the largest followed by UA which mirrors the 3 US airlines' sizes to Europe.
AA hasn't been able to get DL and UA's average fares to continental Europe which is booming esp. in southern Europe while LHR - the bulk of AA and the oneworld JV is overcapacity.
AA's heavy use of the 787-8 makes these additions low-risk even though the CASM for the 787-8 is higher than 767s due to higher ownership costs; DL and UA will likely use the 764 well into the 2030s.
AA also appears to be realizing that its best success will come from not trying to add more capacity to NYC but rather from its inland hubs where it has a schedule advantage in those regions.
Some of these routes as well as existing routes from PHL will likely become 321XLR routes in the future which should free up aircraft to fly even more from CLT and DFW to Europe.
Add in that AA can swap 321XLRs and 787s between Europe and S. America based on season and they should be able to make their TATL network profitable again.
nearly all of these routes as well as everything that DL and UA announced will be driven more by connections than local markets. Most of the new AA and DL routes are additions to existing service so which hub a connecting passenger goes through is relatively immaterial.
It is actually UA's narrowbody, less than daily routes to unique cities that have the greatest risk from a schedule standpoint.
Many Europeans will fly to any city with the lowest fare. Regardless of what city in the states they are connecting. Point blank period.
vast majority of people on Dallas-Europe flights are people connecting from California.
AA used to operate an EDI route from Phillie with the 752 prior to COVID. Hope to see more flights from the US to Scotland. The rest of the UK outside of London Heathrow needs some good nonstop transatlantic routes.
More than British Airways’ food budget, but less than what United will have to pay in retro to its flight attendants when it decides to settle with them
I figured that movie reference would go over your head. I’m currently on UA flight 737 from SEA to SFO. I’d have to say this UA 738 has the best Boeing domestic f/c seat in the US. I’m sorry it doesn’t have a screen from 2003 like you’re use to.
Chicago to Naples may be genius!
Now that the US is heavily focused on garbage and even some presidential candidates pretend to dress up like garbage collectors, they might have found out that Naples is having a waste management crisis and has had so for decades now. Bring out all your American garbage collectors, but keep your trailer trash at home!
“ esp. to continental Europe where DL/AF/KL are the largest”
You’re so stupid, tim lol
How can anyone be this dumb?
It’s so obvious why you live your life in the comment section. Your knowledge is below that of a 5 year old as is your IQ
I wasn't interested in movie clues.
I was interested in making a point.
Which I did.
Speaking of 737s, you do realize that UA will likely get more aircraft from Airbus than Boeing in 2024?
So much for those massive orders from Boeing that United placed.
Why would I fly to Madrid by AA instead of Iberia, which is hundred times better?
In fact, I never take any international trip by any US airlines - screw them!
Correction: 2021 AA announced that they would fly EDI AND SNN on 788 3X a week, but that later got axed before it launched, so it never actually flew.
Yes AA and US have flown EDI (&GLA) out of multiple hubs, including PHL AND JFK, AND ORD in the past, all in 2019 and prior.
So it is not a new route, more like resuming. New route compared to all the traditional existing routes that have just been returned year after year and just expanded capacity-wise.
Just butting in on this AA - IBE thread.
The main reason why many would choose IBE over AA for an international flight is simply the aircraft type.
AA use Boeing while IBE fly Airbus on Trans Atlantic routes.
I clearly touched a nerve - so you lob childish personal attacks.
DL is the largest airline to continental Europe AF/DL/KL IS the largest alliance.
Sorry if those facts ruined your day but the truth doesn't change.
New planes are not more expensive than older planes.
Let be very clear about that.
It literally makes zero sense and I question the IQ of those who push this.
It comes right from government data. You and others regularly prove that you ignore and discredit facts you don’t like.
The 787-8 has very high ownership costs compared to the 767 and comparable or higher crew costs. The maintenance and higher fuel expenses on the 767 don’t offset the higher ownership costs of the 788
There is a reason why the 788 sells very little compared to other models. AA has never managed its fleet well, got rid of the 767 because it didn’t maintain them for long life, they were unreliable, and they bought the 788 as a replacement.
AA is picking the right routes but it still has a fleet cost handicap compared to DL and UA
Why would nearly all airlines, yes even Delta:), but newer and more expensive planes, rather than older and cheaper planes?
That makes no sense, at all.
Hence why I don't take opinions posing as "facts" very seriously.
You can hate Delta all you want, but those Max 10s are way cheaper than the 737-800s they'll replace.
You don’t get it.
The discussion is specifically about the 787-8. Same reason why the A330-800 sells poorly.
And the A318.
The 787 is a great plane but the -8 became economically obsolete when the -9 entered service
Maybe you're the ignorant one, ever thought about it?
I have flown Iberia business three times past 6 months - twice to NY, and once to MIA. Actually, make it 4, because I took their domestic F from Madrid to Paris as well. From boarding to food, comfort, ambiance - so much better than AA!
- At least Iberia ranks in Top #20 business class, unlike AA, which is nowhere to be found.
- Iberia's MAD lounge is amazing, ranks Top #9 in the world. Go figure!
- And I don't even want to mention about food and its quality - no US airlines will feature.
You have a problem with your own trash you take it to Meloni ok ? The Italian Trump.
Yup. I go between JFK and MAD at least every other month. IB is far superior in J, in pretty much every regard.
No. You're just an idiot. Defining JVs by continental Europe now? lol. You just come up with the dumbest ways to make stupid points
nobody is defining JVs by geographic region but it is absolutely valid to determine what each airline gets out of its JVs.
AF/DL/KL have created a continental Europe superpower and SK will only add to it.
UA plus the LH group is strong but has some significant strategic shortcomings.
AA/IAG is great for the UK and Ireland but is quite weak in continental Europe. It is no surprise that AA is committing so many resources to try to catch up w/ DL and UA to a lesser extent in Italy