On Wednesday, August 16th, American Airlines announced an assortment of new routes from their hubs in Philadelphia and Chicago. First, we’ll dive into Philadelphia, as this announcement has huge implications for AA’s (ex. U.S. Airways) east coast hub.
Philadelphia:
American has announced its intention to launch summer seasonal service to both Budapest and Prague daily on board Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The flights will operate between May 4th, 2018 and October 27, 2018, and then (presumably) resume the following year when summer seasonal demand picks back up.
In addition, AA has announced that it will shift its Zurich service from New York-JFK to Philadelphia in March 2018. This flight will operate on a daily basis year-round on board the airline’s Boeing 767-300, the same aircraft which will operate the Prague and Budapest services. AA’s 767-300 is fitted with 28 business class seats, 21 main cabin extra seats, and 160 standard economy seats.
If your considering taking one of these flights, note that you might want to snag an upgrade from economy to business class when flying AA’s 767’s internationally. Despite being recently retrofitted with new business class seats (which are fully flat), these 767’s are pretty lousy in economy. They lack personal entertainment (PTV’s), power outlets, and USB ports in the back section of the plane. I love flying, but a 7-8 hour flight with no entertainment or charging capabilities sounds pretty terrible.
Personally, I have gone out of my way to avoid these planes when flying in economy. If you don’t plan on sleeping the whole flight and/or value entertainment to occupy you during your flight, try flying through London or Madrid on British Airways or Iberia, respectively. They have PTV’s, and you may even luck out and get power ports on some aircraft (depending which U.S. gateway you fly from).
There are a few interesting things to note as a result of AA’s announced TATL (transatlantic) growth out of PHL.
Implications of AA’s PHL Growth:
Firstly, what does this mean for AA at JFK? From my perspective, the airline was a distant 3rd out of the “Big 3” U.S. legacy carriers in New York. United dominates out of their hub in Newark, while Delta bests AA at JFK. I don’t think AA will ever fully cede the NYC international market, as it is just too big and there is room for all 3 to operate. But is this a signal that the airline is willing to take a step back from NYC?
Strategically, I think it might make sense. Since the U.S. Airways merger, AA has talked about utilizing PHL as their primary gateway to Europe, and I think these recent developments are the first tangible steps taken to turn that talk into reality. What are some benefits to AA utilizing PHL as their primary TATL hub over JFK?
- AA could set up a real (quintessential) hub at PHL. UA and DL don’t have a hub presence in the market like they do at JFK. AA could command the market.
- Less slot restricted. Whats the problem with flying into/out of JFK? Everybody else does too. I cant imagine the battle AA has to undertake just to secure a new gate/landing rights every time they want to open up a new route from the airport.
American’s Future at JFK:
The first step has been taken with the Zurich service shifting from JFK to PHL. If I had to guess the future of AA TATL service at JFK, I would assert that the airline will go into “maintenance mode” rather than “expansionary mode.” In this sense, I mean that the airline will likely focus on maintaining their trunk routes (LHR) from JFK, as well as some of their productive leisure routes (BCN, FCO, MAD), rather than pursue TATL expansion out of New York.
Fleet Utilization:
As noted above, the new routes to ZRH, PRG, and BUD will all be operated by pre-merger AA 767-300’s. This is significant because it marks the first time AA will station a large number of their (pre-merger) wide-body aircraft at an ex. U.S. Airways hub. The only other time I can recall AA stationing ex. U.S. Airways wide-body’s at AA hubs (or vise versa) was when the airline repositioned a330’s to ORD for flights to DUB. While somewhat minor, it should be interesting to see how this fleet positioning plays out, especially during irr-ops (irregular operations) like mechanical issues.
Next Up…
Chicago:
American has announced its intentions to launch a summer seasonal service from its hub in Chicago (ORD) to Venice, Italy (VCE) starting in 2018. The flight will operate daily from May 4th to October 27th on board the airline’s 787-8 aircraft, which features 28 business class seats (fully flat), 55 main cabin extra seats, and 143 standard economy seats.
This one’s pretty self explanatory. People love Italy. Like really, really, love it (rightfully so, its gorgeous). This is a total no brainer on AA’s part. They will be the only airline to serve the Italian city non-stop from ORD, which will give them a tremendous leg up with leisure travelers originating in the Windy City. Flyer’s looking to travel to Venice from Chicago can now bypass a transit through EWR and JFK during the summer months on United and Delta, who serve the city out of their respective NYC hubs.
To the Point!
Lets just hope it stays “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” because it looks as though AA has every intention on growing its TATL operations at PHL. While I suspect the airline will never give up the bulk of its territory at JFK, look for more flights and/or frequencies to originate out of Philadelphia to destinations in Europe. It may not be this week or this year, but I suspect this recent announcement was only the beginning. American will be able to set up a more prototypical hub there, and have a greater market share of transatlantic passengers than it would competing with UA and DL out of JFK.
Chicago to Venice is one of the smarter (previously unserved) leisure routes that I can think of. AA will have complete control of the non-stop market, which makes choosing them non-stop over a layover in NYC with DL/UA a no brainer for Chicago travelers.
Yea…I wouldn’t mind crossing the Atlantic on one of these brand spankin’ new birds either.
Update! 8/21/2017
Further changes have been made to transatlantic operations at both JFK and PHL in line with recent reductions and growth at each hub, respectively.
Specifically, American has made the following changes to their east coast operations.
New York-JFK:
Daily seasonal service to Manchester UK has been canceled.
Double daily service to Paris-CDG has been reduced to 1x daily.
Philadelphia:
Starting mid-March 2018, daily service to Amsterdam from PHL will be operated by 767-300 instead of 757.
Starting early April 2018, daily service to Lisbon will be operated by 767-300, instead of 757.
To the Point! (Again)
These updates are in line with the recent developments AA has announced at both JFK and PHL. I find it interesting that the airline is placing additional 767-300 aircraft in Philly. As a result, 5 services from PHL-Europe will be operated by the Boeing aircraft next summer. In addition, this update outlines the capacity growth that PHL will see next summer in comparison to summer ’17. AA’s 767’s feature a total of 209 seats, while AA’s internationally configured 757’s feature 176 seats. So this aircraft swap represents an additional 33 seats per flight. As the flight will operate on a daily basis, this will represent an additional 231 seats per week. PHL based travelers, it just keeps getting better for you!
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