American Airlines Group has announced additional adjustments to its schedule this week in response to decreased travel demand due to coronavirus (COVID-19). The company plans to:
Reduce international capacity for the summer peak by 10% versus the previous selling schedule, including a 55% reduction in trans-Pacific capacity.
Reduce domestic capacity in April by 7.5% versus the current schedule.
New schedule changes include:
Asia
Suspending service to mainland China and Hong Kong (HKG) from Los Angeles (LAX) through the summer.
Suspending service to mainland China from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) through the summer.
Suspending service to HKG from DFW through June. DFW-HKG will resume with a reduced schedule in July.
Extending the suspension of service to Seoul, South Korea (ICN) from DFW into early May.
Flights to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) and Haneda International Airport (HND) from LAX and DFW will be operated with smaller widebody aircraft beginning in May.
Europe
Suspending service to Rome (FCO) from Philadelphia (PHL) effective immediately through the end of April.
Extending the suspension of service to Milan (MXP), and suspending flights to FCO from Chicago (ORD) and Charlotte (CLT) through early summer.
Delaying the seasonal resumption of flights to Barcelona (BCN) from CLT and to Venice (VCE) from ORD to early June. Also delaying the seasonal resumption of flights to FCO from New York (JFK) and DFW through the end of April and suspending operation of its second daily flight from DFW to FCO for the summer.
Reducing service to Paris (CDG) and Madrid (MAD) for parts of May and June.
South America
Flights to Montevideo, Uruguay (MVD) from Miami (MIA) will become seasonal, with service ending in May and resuming in December.
Flights to Santiago, Chile (SCL) from DFW will be suspended through April.
Widebody aircraft will be redeployed on key domestic routes in American’s network. American will also introduce new seasonal service between ORD and Honolulu (HNL) this summer on a Boeing 787-9.
These capacity reductions assume no slot waivers are in place. At airports where demand exceeds airfield and/or terminal capacity, access is governed by slots that grant airlines permission to take off and land at specific times. Given the drop in demand related to COVID-19, American has requested temporary relief from this usage requirement – otherwise known as requesting a slot waiver – to better align capacity with demand without the risk of losing valuable takeoff and landing slots for the future. American will continue to review its network and make adjustments as needed if waivers are granted.
Full details on these schedule adjustments can be found below.
Domestic network
For April, American will reduce domestic capacity by 7.5% to match demand. The airline will decrease frequencies on markets with robust schedule patterns and will cancel routes where customers can be easily reaccommodated.
Taking care of customers
American will continue to take care of customers as this situation develops and recently announced that change fees will be waived for customers who purchased tickets prior to March 1 for travel through April 30. Additionally, American’s Reservations team will contact affected customers directly by email or telephone. Customers who booked through a travel agent will be contacted by their agency directly. If a flight is cancelled and a customer chooses not to be rebooked, they may request a full refund by visiting aa.com/refunds.
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