American Airlines is adding what I’d consider to be a pretty interesting new transcon route from Miami, as flagged by AeroRoutes…
In this post:
American’s new Miami to Orange County flight
As of January 8, 2024, American will launch a daily, year-round flight between Miami (MIA) and Orange County (SNA). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
AA2928 Miami to Orange County departing 8:30AM arriving 11:30AM
AA2928 Orange County to Miami departing 12:30PM arriving 8:20PM
The 2,310-mile flight is blocked at 6hr westbound and 4hr50min eastbound. American will use a Boeing 737 MAX 8 for the service, featuring 172 seats, including 16 first class seats and 156 economy class seats.
This will be American’s first time operating this route, and it seems to be an isolated addition that isn’t part of any bigger announcement.
The schedule suggests that this route is targeted primarily at serving the “local” market (those traveling between Orange County and Miami), plus those connecting to Latin America on overnight flights. The schedule otherwise isn’t ideal for connections to the Caribbean or elsewhere, given the early morning departure from Miami.
How this route fits into American’s route network
Orange County is of course an affluent part of Southern California, and has considerable air service. However, the airport doesn’t have all that many transcon flights.
American otherwise flies to Orange County from Austin (AUS), Charlotte (CLT), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), New York (JFK), and Phoenix (PHX). The New York service is operated by the Airbus A321T, which is American’s specially configured 102-seat A321, featuring fully flat beds in both first and business class.
So it’s cool to see American add a second transcontinental route out of Orange County, though this route is a bit less premium, at least in terms of aircraft type.
The only other transcontinental route from Orange County is to Newark (EWR) on United Airlines. On top of that, Breeze Airways flies from Orange County to Orlando (MCO), but that route is being suspended this winter.
Orange County has one of the shortest runways of any commercial airport served by jets in the United States, as it’s just 5,700 feet long. Combined with the airport’s noise reduction procedures, takeoffs out of the airport tend to be quite fun.
Bottom line
As of early 2024, American Airlines will launch a new route between Miami and Orange County, marking the first time this route has been operated. This is a nice addition for those looking to travel between Southern California and South Florida, as there’s not much transcon service out of Orange County.
What do you make of American’s new Miami to Orange County route?
Although it’s nice to see American AA add
AA2928 Miami to Orange County departing 8:30AM arriving 11:30AM
AA2928 Orange County to Miami departing 12:30PM arriving 8:20PM as of 1/8/2024.
I believe they made a grave mistake and missed a huge opportunity by falling to provide full lay down seat service in the first class section.
TOO BAD. I will have to continue to go to LAX for the JB Mint service....
Although it’s nice to see American AA add
AA2928 Miami to Orange County departing 8:30AM arriving 11:30AM
AA2928 Orange County to Miami departing 12:30PM arriving 8:20PM as of 1/8/2024.
I believe they made a grave mistake and missed a huge opportunity by falling to provide full lay down seat service in the first class section.
TOO BAD. I will have to continue to go to LAX for the JB Mint service. Very DISAPPOINTING
I will remain hopeful they correct this great mistake.
I think of this as the Orange County-Miami route. :)
Just booked it for Spring break flying SNA-MIA-MDE for 17k AA miles!
Balance distribution/factor might be tough with all the fake t*** and lips on this one...
PBI or FLL to LAX or BUR could use more options - the number and departure times are very inconvenient.
Planes no longer do the aggressive climb on departure out of SNA, even though it did mitigate noise over neighborhoods. So if you’re looking for an exciting ride in Orange County, Disneyland’s your best bet.
American Airlines had previously flown this route on a 757.
It did well. unfortunately, they needed the 757 on Routes to Brazil.
Now that American has so many new aircraft and many more arriving, it's great to see MIA-SNA-MIA.
AA used to fly MIA-SJO.
AA HAS THE WEST COAST COVERED!
This is a nice addition and does connect well w/ AA's Latin America system at MIA but the aircraft is dictated by the runway at SNA. It is doubtful they want to repeat the economics of their A321T strategy - which will end not too many moons down the road.
Since MIA is shorter than to JFK from SNA, there aren't a whole lot of aircraft that work on transcon routes from SNA operationally, let alone economically.
Suspect that AA must have a lucrative corporate contract on one end of the JFK-SNA route to justify use of the A321T. There's a surprising number of pharmaceutical companies in Orange County, for example.
UA operates 3 flights a day for EWR/SNA. AA has one daily JFK/SNA. Still waiting for DL to roll out JFK/SNA service.
United runs 3 daily non stops between EWR-SNA. AA only runs 1 JFK-SNA flight that seats 102 people. Surprised Alaska or Delta have not offered more JFK-SNA non stop service. I was hoping JetBlue would serve SNA when it left LGB, but that does not seem like it is go9ng to happen.
Until Alaska gets the 737-8, they probably would have to dedicate a 737-700 to do that route, and they don't have many to spare. Delta likely would also have to use a -700 or A319, but that probably wouldn't fit what they're looking for out of SNA. AA and UA fill that market well.
Delta did try it with a 737-7 to jfk and it didn't last long they needed that slot for a different city. That was a few years ago.
JetBlue won't fly to SNA. Their plane is too heavy and they only do long hall to jfk or Boston from the west coast mainly.
American has two gates at SNA thst seem to be heavily used. Curious how they are going to add capacity with the limited gate space they have. I have fequently taken the JFK-SNA flight and have had to wait for the gate to become available.