While we’ll see if anything comes of this, American Airlines has hinted at some possible new international routes it could add, and some are quite “out there.”
In this post:
American considering Cape Town, Casablanca, and more?
During a recent event sharing the company’s vision for the upcoming years, American had a display letting people vote on the carrier’s next destination, encouraging people to grab a jelly bean from their favorite destination.
The following 10 possible destinations were listed, as shared by @AndythePandy_, and flagged by View from the Wing (though it seems the post has since been deleted):
- Berlin, Germany (BER)
- Bordeaux, France (BOD)
- Brussels, Belgium (BRU)
- Cape Town, South Africa (CPT)
- Casablanca, Morocco (CMN)
- Cordoba, Argentina (COR)
- Mallorca, Spain (PMI)
- Seville, Spain (SVQ)
- Shannon, Ireland (SNN)
- Vienna, Austria (VIE)
How much should we read into these destinations?
I wouldn’t assume that launching service to multiple of the above destinations is imminent. Instead, I’d think of this more as being some sort of a (very optimistic) vision board, and even just something intended to create excitement.
Here’s my initial take on this list:
- It’s telling how there’s not a single route across the Pacific on the list, which kind of shows American’s lack of Asia ambitions
- Most of the Europe routes, as well as Cordoba, would be realistic with the Airbus A321XLR, so I imagine that if they happen, it would be in 2027 and beyond (likely 2028+), once more of those are delivered
- I think Mallorca and Seville are probably the most realistic summer seasonal routes, out of Philadelphia (PHL), I think Vienna is highly unlikely (no US airline flies to Vienna, and it’s dominated by Lufthansa Group), while Brussels also seems unlikely (American just doesn’t compete well in Lufthansa Group hubs)
- American had intended to launch Casablanca years ago, but it never came to fruition due to the pandemic, and all the planes American retired; it seems like a possible A321XLR route, though it still seems sort of marginal, as it does connect into Royal Air Maroc’s Africa network, but Americans mostly want to go to Marrakech, and not Casablanca
- Cape Town service would of course be awesome, but that’s an ultra long haul flight, and we know the extent to which American shies away from those kinds of routes; so we’d need to see a major strategy shift at the airline before something like that becomes a reality
- It’s also worth mentioning how American recently announced plans to launch flights to Porto, Portugal (OPO), as of 2027
Bottom line
American Airlines has hinted at 10 possible new international destinations it could serve. However, it doesn’t seem like there are any firm plans, but instead, these are just cities the airline might be considering in the long run. I think some of the additions (Mallorca and Seville) are more realistic than other destinations (Cape Town and Vienna). The A321XLR certainly makes some of the “thinner” routes more realistic.
What do you make of American’s possible new international destinations? Which do you see launching?
They are not welcome in Europe. Ban them.
Yawn, who cares? None of these will connect meaningful cities. Great - you can connect in Charlotte instead of London to Bordeaux or Mallorca for three months. Because that's what the world needed.
I'd rather see them make it easier to get to meaningful cities. The only connection to ZRH or AMS is through PHL; the only way to get to FRA or MUC is through god-awful CLT. Much of the US already has to...
Yawn, who cares? None of these will connect meaningful cities. Great - you can connect in Charlotte instead of London to Bordeaux or Mallorca for three months. Because that's what the world needed.
I'd rather see them make it easier to get to meaningful cities. The only connection to ZRH or AMS is through PHL; the only way to get to FRA or MUC is through god-awful CLT. Much of the US already has to connect once just to get to PHL or CLT.
None of these will originate at LAX, where AA has renewed their lease and will have to be building up their presence.
No Asia strategy, no meaningful LATAM flying except out of MIA. Just more boring third-tier leisure destinations. Great cities, just not a good use of planes or gate slots.
American is relegating itself to getting old folks to their cruise ships. That's it. They'll eventually go the way of Edelweiss if they're lucky; Thomas Cook more likely.
I would think there may be a market for a MIA-CPT route from AA.
AA’s route network is a joke. OH WOW Porto!? Really we are supposed to be excited about that? Where is Hong Kong? Beijing? Manila? Bangkok? KL? The list can go on, just take a look at United! AA is literally last in Europe, Asia, Africa…but ok I can go to Porto, a route that United has been flying for years now
my bigger surprise on this list is the lack of deep south America cities listed outside Cordoba. I'm sure the XLR will quickly be seen on routes like MVD and maybe DFW-LIM, but I would've expected something more like resumption of CNF, BSB, and SSA where you can still capture all the rich Brazilian traffic .
My biggest surprise more generally is that TAP can serve 15 destinations in Brazil alone from Portugal, yet from the US there's hardly anything beyond Rio, SP and a few other large cities elsewhere in South America.
I guess they think there will be an update to the US/RSA air services agreement. As it is delta has to run a triangle route for some of its frequencies to CPT/JNB
There are no slots for AA to start a route without a new airservices agreement IIRC
At this point I cant play any more damn airline games, not even this stupid one. Aren’t we all burnt on the games they’ve played on us for years???
I’m much more interested in what magic jellybeans Julia just took and why she’s so darn excited about CTL…. it sounds like shes gotta be this excited for a legit reason !
Currently only Paris airports and NCE have USA nonstops. LYS has 30% more pax than BOD. Wonder why BOD over LYS?
I couldn’t care less where they fly to. Still won’t be flying AA. Give me a foreign airline any day.
Let's be clear that DL and UA have trotted out lots of new route announcements and everyone loves growth.
Some of these routes could work on the XLR esp. out of the NE but probably not on a year round basis because airfares plummet in the winter while the XLRs CASM remains higher than widebodies.
The beauty of the XLR is that it could be shifted to Latin America routes in the winter -...
Let's be clear that DL and UA have trotted out lots of new route announcements and everyone loves growth.
Some of these routes could work on the XLR esp. out of the NE but probably not on a year round basis because airfares plummet in the winter while the XLRs CASM remains higher than widebodies.
The beauty of the XLR is that it could be shifted to Latin America routes in the winter - and AA has a very large network where they could use them there.
if a few route announcements give AA employees a little hope to get them re-engaged, dangle all the new route announcements possible in front of them.
MIA - CPT - Getting a frequency as mentioned above is tricky due to the agreements in place current political standoff. That said
1. There is a decent despora in the greater area and Texas (AA hubs) add this to the the cruise industry which hires a fair number of South African staff...
2. American would have a structural advantage over United and Delta due to a significantly shorter flight time (~2hrs) and thus either margin or pricing power.
Oh, please. Enough of this made-up ‘stand-off.’ MIA-CPT would be lovely. After all, SAA used to fly its 744 there back-in-the-day. Loads of Americans want to go for wine and safaris.
It is a statement of fact that securing frequencies between South Africa and the US is difficult for US carriers, notwithstanding current geopolitics, which certainly won't make it easier.
Bordeaux is the home of Grey Goose, Hennessy and all the good red wines so there is a premium market
AA already flies to multiple Spanish destinations out of Philly and they are adding Porto next year. If we were to get one of these, I think it would be Seville as there seems to be decent Iberian demand, and I haven't been on the Barcelona route, but the Madrid one does good business.
Berlin would do well out of here too. There is a large German-American population although O'Hare would also make sense as mentioned in another comment.
I wouldn’t refer to Porto as a Spanish destination.
So United does teasers and you glaze them, and as soon as AA does it Ben sucks all the air out of the room, poopooing nearly half of the destinations.
"I'm rooting for American" yeah right.
@ The_REDEEMER -- Me sharing my take on which routes are most realistic isn't "poopooing nearly half of the destinations." Let's be clear, American doesn't have the planes to add these 10 routes any time in the near future, so it is unfair to analyze which routes are most realistic?
Also, when I cover United's teasers, it's because they publish those hours before they're going to actually announce routes. This is a little different.
You're critiquing the concept car because it won't be on the dealership floor this year. Heck it hasn't even been off the drawing room floor. This was an internal event right? Not released to the press? I can't tell based off your post.
I think its unfair to be dismissive of something that was clearly designed to generate hype for those employees, and signal something new. But you had to suck the wind out of...
You're critiquing the concept car because it won't be on the dealership floor this year. Heck it hasn't even been off the drawing room floor. This was an internal event right? Not released to the press? I can't tell based off your post.
I think its unfair to be dismissive of something that was clearly designed to generate hype for those employees, and signal something new. But you had to suck the wind out of it.
You say that Cape Town won't happen unless there's a change in strategy, but isn't even mentioning it itself a shift in thinking? Do you want them to say nothing?
Criticizing American for doing some of the exact things you've been begging it to do is...perplexing.
We're getting CLT to CPT! #AA #GOATairline
Since AA used to fly Berlin, Shannon and Brussels from PHL, I think those are obvious routes that will be re-added. Would love to see Casablanca and Reykjavik added back to the schedule since they never had the chance to launch due to the pandemic. Capetown would be awesome, but the current mgmt team doesn’t have enough vision or courage to launch that route.
Nothing Asian is on the list because AA doesn’t have strong enough connectivity at LAX and Pacific flying out of LAX is super competitive hurting yields. Without Russian airspace, most of Asia is out of reach. Beijing would require a backtrack of sorts after hooking around North Korea even. Don’t expect any Asia growth unless it was a secondary Japanese city like NGO,KIX or CTS.
AS will be AAs Asia expansion sock puppet
AS isn't in any of the oneworld joint ventures; let us know when AA and AS are both in the same JV. The DOJ has been pretty clear that two US carriers cannot be in the same JV to the same destination; you can't allow AA and AS to both serve different gateways to Tokyo, for instance, without restricting their ability to cooperate across their networks - because connections can flow over multiple hubs.
I wonder how many of these potential new destinations could see a Chicago route? It would be interesting if AA is planning a response to United's moves to defend ORD from American.
You want Casablanca? Well we have something even more exciting: a 69th daily frequency on DFW-LIT
Here is what I think would be most likely routes out of each city above
Berlin: Philadelphia (maybe Chicago over United rivalry)
Brussels: Philadelphia
Bordeaux: New York
Casablanca: Philadelphia
Cape Town: Miami
Cordoba: Miami
Mallorca: New York
Sevilla: New York
Shannon: Philadelphia
Vienna: Philadelphia (maybe Chicago over United rivalry)
Regarding Cape Town it seems like American doesn’t appear to put much focus on PHL international outside Europe.
CLT is absolutely going to get some routes. Best hub ever.
Could see CLT getting Berlin considering it flies CLT-FRA/MUC
CLT best hub ever?
Really?
Really?
Ralph, did you rub CLT the wrong way?
No, CLT is a shithole dump. Period
Lucky, you mentioned Cordoba, Argentina but ODB is the code for Cordoba, Spain. Argentina is COR. That one is probably more likely since AA used to fly it from MIA, and AR is now going to serve MIA-COR as well so AA likely wants to "defend its turf."
@ Dolphin -- My mistake on the airport code, d'oh. Thank you, fixed! :-)
Both Cordoba (COR, not ODB) and Berlin have been part of the network pre-covid.
MIA-COR with the 763, and PHL-TXL on the 763.
Both very logical contenders for the A321XLR, although with the changed competitive landscape an interesting addition nevertheless.
The US-South Africa BASA is constrained on frequencies at this time, and given the hostility between the two administrations at present I do not see that resolving in the near future.
Sean, such ‘agreements’ mean nothing these days. If Trump wants it, he will call up Ramaphosa and threaten 200% tariff until there’s a ‘deal.’ AA just needs to rename something after him.
Has AA donated to build the new ballroom? Because they aren't getting the CPT route otherwise :)