PHILADELPHIA - American Airlines has announced four additional transatlantic routes from Philadelphia, signaling a renewed emphasis on its Pennsylvania hub following the end of its alliance with JetBlue in the New York area. In late October, America will move its only Doha, Qatar gateway from JFK to Philadelphia. On August 17th, the carrier announced seasonal transatlantic routes from Philadelphia to Copenhagen, Naples, Italy, and Nice, France, beginning next spring.
Philadelphia offers up to 40 arrivals at one time for international routes compared to only nine at JFK, which is heavily restricted by capacity. American has already begun re-emphasizing Philadelphia by flying 8% more seats year over year from the City of Brotherly Love compared with a 4.5% increase in its network overall since last July.
Brett Snyder, a travel advisor and airline industry analyst who writes the Cranky Flier blog, commented, “Philadelphia is going to be America's primary European gateway, especially for smaller markets like Copenhagen, Naples and Nice...”
The resumption of Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries is also positioning America to rebuild its transatlantic network more aggressively after it shed its Boeing 767 and Airbus A330 widebody fleets at the beginning of the pandemic. With seasonality in mind, Znotins said that America will deploy planes used in the winter for Dallas-Auckland service on the Philadelphia-Naples summer route, taking advantage of countercyclical opportunities.
