Could American Launch Flights To Abu Dhabi?

Etihad has been increasing its code share flights out of Dallas, American is probably wanting to get involved with the route especially with the increasing Asian population in Dallas. Overall since Etihad already operates the route 3x weekly, I can see how American could fill a 787 on the DFW-AUH route. Not so sure about it as a 77W route however.

Humor me - if AA and QR get along that poorly, why is it QR in oneworld and not EY?

Auckland is pretty much a sure thing. There is an internal AA video where a route planning manager is answering questions about new routes and he basically says "we need to expand in LA but gate constraints are an issue but new service to Sydney and Auckland are examples of us widening our portfolio out of the city."
AUH, where there is smoke there is fire, so it's probably true. However Doug Parker has a very clear disdain for ME3 carriers so it's surprising to see them get closer. Twice a week though? AA and U.S. Have always shied away from anything less less than five times weekly. The logistics of that alone with crew scheduling would be crazy. A flight that long would require almost 24 hours "behind the door" for flight attendants and I can't imagine them having an aircraft on the ground for that long. There is a big push within AA to reduce these types of schedules, DFW-Edmonton being an example.

"American is unique in that they partner with both Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways."

Aren't Air Berlin, Malaysia Airlines and SriLankan Airlines all partners with both EY and QR too?

@Jonathan,

Because QR is BA's creature.

It does reveal the power dynamics at oneworld that whilst two key members have liaisons with an ME player (AA & QF), only one gets to be the principal wife in the hareem.

Seems like CX and QR are running dry, with CX pulling out of DOH, ending JV and stopping code shares with QR next year.

The rumor that AA is strongly considering service to AUH is 100% true (I have no knowledge of the bank of the info in the FT post,) I have it from several beyond-reproach sources and have for many weeks.
As to why they would do this, that I just plain have no idea.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! AA needs to fly the route 2-3 x week, so they can have a j/v w/ EY on the route. I flew the route on EY a couple of weeks ago in Y, and it was full both ways. J looked pretty full too. Y was 95+% South Asian. It's better for AA to get a piece of the action, rather than nothing at all!

The problem with the idea that an airport in the US can provide a connection between S / Central America and Middle East / Far East / Africa is that passengers can't just transit. So many nationals this is a real problem. Airports like Panama or Mexico City will have edge if ME companies can connect through.

Wow so you copied this story of another blog who took the story from flyertalker. Where's the creativity gone? All these posts are just rehashed versions of what everyone else has said (or credit card referrals)

AUH is an interesting one for passengers going between the Americas and the Middle East/South Asia/Central Asia. EY flies into a lot of cities in Asia that carriers from Europe or the Americas don't serve on their own metal or don't serve with the kind of frequency/timings to make for shorter total travel times.

AA routing traffic via EY instead of QR to get to many/most of those Middle East/South Asia/Central Asia airports can't exactly thrill QR, but QR -- even with BA's back/backing -- can't really do much of anything about what AA decides to do with this.

QR is entering into a codeshare agreement with JetBlue for flights into/out of BOS.