American Airlines Is Ending Chicago (ORD) to Beijing (PEK), Adding The Boeing 787-8 to Cancun
American Airlines has released an outline of the airline’s route plans moving forward. The update details changes coming to both its North American and international route network this winter. The updates, for the most part, aren’t that surprising except for the end of one major route. Here’s an outline of some of the changes.
American Airlines is Ending Chicago to Beijing This October
The biggest change to the airline’s route network is the decision to end service between American’s Midwest Chicago hub to Beijing, China. According to American Airlines, the route had been losing money since the route launched in 2010. Though the airline had tried to boost revenue and minimize costs through increasing connections and changing the flights to the fuel-efficient Boeing 787-8, the airline could not make the route work. On October 20th, the last westbound flight will depart while on October 22nd, the last eastbound flight will depart.
American Set To Begin Chicago to Honolulu
When one door closes another door opens. This winter, American Airlines will begin nonstop service between Chicago and Honolulu (HNL). Beginning on December 19th, American will begin a daily flight between Chicago and Honolulu operated by a Boeing 787-8. The service is seasonal operating from December 19th to January 5th and then again from February 14th to April 1st.
Cancun is Getting The Boeing 787-8 This Winter
One of American’s most popular leisure destinations is set to receive American’s Boeing 787-8 on select flights between Dallas (DFW) and Chicago (ORD). At the moment, the airline operates Boeing 737-800s and Airbus a321-200s between Dallas/Chicago and Cancun. Due to high-demand coupled with Boeing 787-8s with idle time at both hubs, the airline will add the Boeing 787-8 replacing a few Boeing 737-800 flights.
From Chicago (ORD), American will cancel one its three daily flights operated by the Boeing 737-800 and instead will fly two daily roundtrips with the Boeing 787-8.
From Dallas (DFW), one of the airline’s daily flights operated by the Boeing 737-800 will no be operated by the Boeing 787-8. The number of daily flights will not change between Dallas and Cancun.
More Caribbean
Also thanks to high demand, American is set to increase its footprint in the Caribbean this winter. Here’s a list of new destinations or pre-existing destinations receiving new service
From Charlotte (CLT)
- Eleuthera (ELH) year-round Saturday only service with a Bombardier CRJ-700
- Marsh Harbour (MHH) year-round Saturday only service with an Embraer E175
From Chicago (ORD)
- Aruba (AUA) seasonal Saturday only service with a Boeing 737-800
- Grand Cayman (GCM) seasonal Saturday only service with a Boeing 737-800
- Nassau (NAS) seasonal Saturday only service with a Boeing 737-800
- Providenciales (PLS) seasonal Saturday only service with a Boeing 737-800
From Dallas (DFW)
- Aruba (AUA) year-round Saturday only service with a Boeing 737-800
From Miami (MIA)
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD) year-round Saturday only service with an Airbus a319
- 1 Additional Daily Frequency to the following destinations: Barbados (BGI), Curacao (CUR), Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (POP), Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (POS), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ), Saint Lucia (UVF), Freeport, Bahamas (FPO)
Miami and Europe
According to American Airlines, demand just isn’t there to keep its daily Boeing 777-300ER flight between Miami and London (LHR). However, demand continues to increase between Dallas and London. Beginning on October 28th, American will drop its Boeing 777-300ER flight from Miami to London and add that flight from Dallas to London. At the same time, British Airways will add another daily flight to Miami operated with a Boeing 747-400.
Overall, American’s Route Network Changes
Nothing was too surprised when I learned of the changes coming to American’s route network this fall and winter. I was surprised to learn that Chicago to Beijing failed to make a profit with such high loads. However, loads do not always mean an airline is making a profit. All additions to the Caribbean are practical. Finally, I’m glad to see American continue to reevaluate its route structure and shuffle flights between hubs.
What do you think of these changes coming this fall/winter? Were you surprised by any of these changes?
Do you know when these schedule changes will be loaded? My 12/2 LHR-MIA flight is still showing as a 77W. I’m booked into Flagship First, so at some point I will have to rebook through JFK or DFW. ::sigh::
Unfortunately, I do not know when the changes will be loaded into the schedule. I’d imagine sometime this summer. The 77Ws are still popping up at the moment. You could try (when the time comes) to get bumped to BA first on either a 747 or a380.
Fingers crossed. I used a SWU to go from biz to first, and the last time this same thing happened, they wouldn’t let me fly non-AA metal. They were accommodating, however, in the rerouting (was on DCA-MIA-BCN, got rerouted DCA-MIA-LHR-BCN).
The Miami to London changes are a real puzzler. Those flights have worked for decades, so a sudden drop off in business seems really odd. AA should be able to fill this plane fairly easily, particularly in light of connections from other locations in the Americas to the Miami hub, and doubly so with the codeshare with BA to connect passengers to smaller cities in Europe and beyond. Assuming that the market had recently softened, then why on earth would BA add another flight that has even more capacity?
AA found that most of the demand for the MIA-LHR/MIA came from people returning from Europe. It didn’t create enough connecting pax demand and was more fitting for BA to take on.