American Airlines is launching a new international route, which is interesting on a couple of levels, as flagged by AirlineGeeks. Not only will American be the only airline operating regularly scheduled international flights to this airport, but it’s also the shortest route in its carrier’s entire system.
In this post:
American adds Miami to South Bimini flights as of early 2026
As of February 14, 2026, American plans to launch new 3x weekly flights between Miami (MIA) and South Bimini (BIM), in the Bahamas. The flight will operate with the following schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays:
AA4108 Miami to South Bimini departing 10:05AM arriving 11:05AM
AA4108 South Bimini to Miami departing 11:50AM arriving 12:50PM
As you can see, the flight is blocked at one hour in each direction. It will technically be operated by American Eagle, American’s regional subsidiary, with an Envoy Air Embraer E175. That plane has 76 seats, including 12 business class seats and 64 economy seats. At 64 miles, this will be the shortest flight in American’s system, taking that title from American’s Chicago (ORD) to Milwaukee (MKE) flight, which covers 67 miles.
South Bimini will be American’s seventh (!!!) airport in the Bahamas. Psssh, and to think that some people claim American doesn’t have a robust international network! Take that, United, and your Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Manila, and Singapore flights!
Existing flights to South Bimini are from Freeport (FPO) on Flamingo Air, and from Nassau (NAS) on Western Air. Funny enough, those two domestic routes are longer than American’s new international route to South Bimini.
Is it surprising that this is the first US to South Bimini flight?
Here in Miami, I always see ads for Resorts World Bimini. It’s marketed as being so close to the United States, but that’s only so useful if it’s separated by a body of water.
It seems that people primarily get to Bimini by ferry, as one runs from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Of course that’s useful if you live in the area, but it’s less useful if you’re connecting from elsewhere.
Three weekly flights isn’t exactly a huge number of frequencies, but I suppose the intent is that for those connecting from somewhere, it’s worth planning travel around that. After all, your other options are to connect through another island in the Bahamas, and that might not be as reliable or familiar to many travelers.
Bimini has a huge number of hotels, so I’m sure some nonstop air service on a major airline from the US will help. In fairness, I should acknowledge that seaplane operator Tropic Ocean Airways flies from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to the Bimini North Seaplane Base (NSB). However, that’s not an airline, but instead, a charter operator.
Bottom line
As of February 2026, American will launch new 3x weekly flights between Miami and South Bimini, using Embraer E175s. This will be American’s shortest route systemwide, beating the existing shortest flight by three miles. Bimini is an interesting market, since it’s so close to the United States, and there’s also an efficient ferry option. I’m curious if this flight proves successful.
What do you make of American adding Miami to South Bimini flights?
How come some regional flights like this one have the same flight number for both the outbound and inbound?
Some mainline flights also have the same number in both directions. It’s simply a matter of running out of flight numbers - between mainline, regional, and codeshare the 4-digit number system is getting pretty crowded.
There are literally 10,000 possible flight numbers in a 4-digit system and there is no way any airline operates anywhere close to 10,000 flights
Continental flew to Bimini starting almost 20 years ago. Many open cockpit flights on the Gulfstream operated B1900s!
Later it was Silver when it took over Gulfstream's assets, so this is hardly a new market
Bimini is a small community, which was hugely affected by the Chalk crash of 2005 in Miami.
AA may not have the "sexy" international network, but they do have a significantly larger international portfolio vs Delta. Mongolia is a cool place to think about going, but Americans actually go to the Bahamas and Tortola ;)
International destinations:
UA: 147
AA: 130
DL: 100
@ MaxPower -- Wow, I can't believe how far behind Delta is! ;-) ;-) ;-)
@Ben my Chum-throwing wasn't particularly subtle today ;)
ily ben
Is that someone like Eskimo pretending to be Dim Tunn? For sure both a very, very DIM.
Given Florida’s Third World vax stance now (cue measles outbreak soon!) - that may soon count as int’l. And DL has that locked up.
DL can totally get you 200 countries tho!!! Just have to fly through ICN or CDG/AMS to do so. Totally the same as UA/AA nonstops, zero difference yup yup
DL might well fly to fewer international destinations than UA and AA, however, the still outperform the others in the World Rankings. Clearly, fewer means better …. :-)
Well now, sugar, look at you, AeroB13a, prancin’ around like a bargain-bin British lord with your “cheerio” this and your “pip pip” that. Bless your heart, but we all see right through that tinsel wig—it’s just Tim Dunn playin’ dress-up again.
Honey, you switch names like you switch heels at a drag show—one minute you’re “AeroB13a,” next you’re “Sir I’m-Not-Scared-of-Critics,” but underneath it’s still the same tired Delta hymn book, singin’ in a voice nobody...
Well now, sugar, look at you, AeroB13a, prancin’ around like a bargain-bin British lord with your “cheerio” this and your “pip pip” that. Bless your heart, but we all see right through that tinsel wig—it’s just Tim Dunn playin’ dress-up again.
Honey, you switch names like you switch heels at a drag show—one minute you’re “AeroB13a,” next you’re “Sir I’m-Not-Scared-of-Critics,” but underneath it’s still the same tired Delta hymn book, singin’ in a voice nobody asked for. You can wave your little Union Jack and sip your imaginary Earl Grey all you want, but we’re just laughin’, sugar, because it’s always Tim, tryin’ to turn a mouse into a lion—and bless his heart, the cat’s still tiny.
So go on, darlin’, tip your fake top hat, toss that fake accent around, and remember: you can play queen online, but we all know who’s really behind the curtain.
Well, well, well, Eskimo, Plain Jane, Mason, John or of course Anita Grits? …. Same old, same old, but which witch are you actually imitating? Are you male, female, or truly hermaphrodite? Now that is the question? Definitely identifying as anything human will be extremely difficult for it. As must be for a troll to remember if it is animal, mineral, hermaphrodite, male or in fact female.
Still it matters not as the entertainment...
Well, well, well, Eskimo, Plain Jane, Mason, John or of course Anita Grits? …. Same old, same old, but which witch are you actually imitating? Are you male, female, or truly hermaphrodite? Now that is the question? Definitely identifying as anything human will be extremely difficult for it. As must be for a troll to remember if it is animal, mineral, hermaphrodite, male or in fact female.
Still it matters not as the entertainment value is now legendary, as is the number of troll clicks it generates for Ben. The mind boggles …. Xxxx
I thought they primarily got to Bimini on the Monkey Business, riding on Gary Hart’s lap.
Americans of a certain age will always associate Bimini with Adam Clayton Powell Jr. I suppose these days, younger Americans don't recognize the name. But I just learned that Martin Luther King Jr. also had connections with the island. King wrote his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in Bimini and four years later, he returned to write his very last speech for striking sanitation workers in Memphis.
I was just thinking that. The shenanigans with Powell has burned negative connotations with Bimini in my brain.
AA is just stepping in to cover an old Silver Airways route. Silver flew FLL-BIM for a long time, and was one of their existing routes on their final days.
United doesn’t fly to BKK or SGN. Flights from HOG are fake.
Americans being so focused on inTERnaTioNal is just so incredibly funny. It's a flight from one place to another. The world doesn't change because you happened to fly over a line on a map, lol.
It sort of does though...those 64 miles separate two very different cultures. Much more so than if you flew from Florida to Alaska.
Chalk's Aiways had a fatal crash in 2005 with a seaplane enroute from Miami Bay to Bimini just off Miami Beach using an ancient seaplane. At the time, Chalk's was one of the oldest U.S. airlines. That may have been the last airline that provided scheduled service. Interestingly, many local Bahamians also used this service for shopping purposes in MIA.
What was their shortest route previously? GSP-CLT?
I think he mentions it in the article, ORD-MKE
Girl, it's literally in the article.
For the record, GSP-CLT is 75 miles. It would not have been the shortest flight but good memory.