American Airlines has revealed some major updates to its international network. In addition to moving its Auckland flight from Los Angeles to Dallas, the carrier is also canceling and/or delaying two of its most anticipated planned ultra long haul flights.
American scraps Dallas to Tel Aviv route
American Airlines no longer plans to fly between Dallas and Tel Aviv, citing soft demand for the route.
For context, in August 2019 American announced plans to launch a new route between Dallas and Tel Aviv. This would mark American’s return to Israel, which seemed like a huge gap in the network of the world’s largest airline.
As you’d expect, the launch of the route was delayed due to the pandemic. What’s interesting is that American ended up launching a New York to Tel Aviv route as of May 2021, and a Miami to Tel Aviv route as of June 2021. So while the Dallas to Tel Aviv route was the first route to be announced, it was never launched.
American is typically so focused on funneling everyone through major hubs (including Dallas for international, and Charlotte and Phoenix for domestic), yet Israel is a different market. Israel has a ton of demand directly from certain markets, but there’s obviously not as much demand for connecting traffic from between the coasts.
American delays Seattle to Bengaluru route
American Airlines now plans to launch its Seattle to Bengaluru route as the summer of 2023, though no exact date has been provided. American claims that this is due to the closure of Russian airspace, given that this 8,000+ mile flight would ordinarily need to operate through there.
For context, in February 2020 American announced plans to launch a new route between Seattle and Bengaluru. This was part of the carrier’s plan to build up a long haul hub out of Seattle, given the closer cooperation with Alaska Airlines.
The launch of this route was repeatedly delayed due to the pandemic, which is understandable enough, and now you have the issue of Russian airspace being closed, so it’s anyone’s guess when this route will really be practical.
That being said, even taking the Russian airspace issue out of the equation, the economics of this route are highly questionable, based on everything I’ve heard. Essentially the success of this route was based on the assumption that American would get most of the west coast traffic for Bengaluru.
However, shortly after American’s announcement, United revealed it would launch a San Francisco to Bengaluru route, with San Francisco being (by far) the biggest market for Bengaluru demand. American was banking on United not being able to launch this route, but United was able to modify its Boeing 787-9s to make this work.
Personally I suspect we won’t ever see this route launch, but who knows. For that matter, this sure draws into question American’s overall strategy of building up Seattle as a long haul hub. The carrier’s planned Bengaluru and Shanghai flights were both never launched, and the London flight is suspended, so American operates no long haul flights out of Seattle.
Fortunately American has established another link to India since the start of the pandemic. Initially the Seattle to Bengaluru route was supposed to mark American’s return to India, but American ended up launching a New York to Delhi route as of October 2021.
Bottom line
Unfortunately two of American’s most highly anticipated new ultra long haul routes won’t be launching anytime soon.
American no longer plans to fly from Dallas to Tel Aviv due to soft demand, and will instead focus on existing flights from Miami and New York.
Meanwhile American is delaying its Seattle to Bengaluru route until at least the summer of 2023, with Russian airspace closures being blamed. Personally I’d be surprised if that route ever launches, given that United plans to operate a San Francisco to Bengaluru route.
What do you make of these updates to Bengaluru and Tel Aviv flights?
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