With New Zealand’s borders having reopened, American plans to launch a flight between Dallas and Auckland. However, the carrier’s overall network to New Zealand will look different than before. I first wrote about this a couple of days ago, but wanted to note that this flight is now on sale, so we have a sense of the schedule.
American plans seasonal Dallas to Auckland route
American Airlines plans to operate a daily nonstop flight between Dallas (DFW) and Auckland (AKL) as of late 2022. The flight will operate seasonally, initially between October 29, 2022, and March 25, 2023. At 7,440 miles, this will be American’s second longest route, after Los Angeles to Sydney (Dallas to Hong Kong used to be the longest route, but there’s no sign of that returning).
The schedule for this flight will be as follows, with the flight being blocked at 15hr15min westbound and 13hr50min eastbound.
AA35 Dallas to Auckland departing 10:30PM arriving 8:45AM (+2 days)
AA34 Auckland to Dallas departing 1:40PM arriving 8:30AM
American will use a Boeing 787-9 for Auckland flights, featuring a total of 285 seats, including 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 234 economy seats.
American cuts other New Zealand routes
Pre-pandemic, American Airlines operated a seasonal flight between Los Angeles and Auckland. This was operated as part of the carrier’s transpacific joint venture with Qantas, though it was suspended in early 2020.
In October 2019, American announced plans to launch two new routes to New Zealand:
- American was going to launch a seasonal Dallas to Auckland route as of October 2020
- American was going to launch a seasonal Los Angeles to Christchurch route as of October 2020
As you’d expect, these routes were postponed. With this latest update:
- American’s Dallas to Auckland flight replaces the carrier’s Los Angeles to Auckland flight, so that route is being axed
- There are no signs of the Los Angeles to Christchurch route launching; so while it’s not officially canceled, it’s also not bookable for any point in the future
It’s pretty incredible to see how American has scaled back its network in Los Angeles. Years ago LAX was supposed to become a huge transpacific hub for American, while at this point the carrier only has long haul flights to London and Sydney scheduled. We’ve seen American cut routes to Beijing, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc.
Admittedly Dallas has a lot more connecting traffic for American than Los Angeles does, but in some way it’s surprising that American couldn’t make a Los Angeles to Auckland flight work in conjunction with Qantas, to give Air New Zealand some competition. That’s not to say that American or Qantas much transpacific market share in New Zealand, but still, you’d hope there would be room for a competitor.
Bottom line
American Airlines is launching a seasonal Dallas to Auckland route as of October 2022, which is exciting. Unfortunately this is coming at the expense of American’s Los Angeles to Auckland route, and there’s also no sign of a Los Angeles to Christchurch route launching.
We’re continuing to see American totally give up on long haul service out of Los Angeles, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
What do you make of American’s Dallas to Auckland route, plus the carrier retreating at LAX?
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