American reshuffles transatlantic routes and schedules for S15

American Airlines is adding five new routes between four of its US hubs and select European cities in summer 2015, although these changes reflect more surgical additions across its gateway cities rather than overall growth for the combined US Airways and American Airlines entity.

In March 2015, American will add a second daily flight between Los Angeles and London Heathrow, complimenting its existing 2 daily flights on joint venture partner British Airways for a total of 4 daily flights between LAX and Heathrow. American will also re-commence daily service between Miami and Frankfurt in May 2015, a route that has not operated since 1997. American will also add two new daily flights between New York JFK and the British Isles with service to Edinburgh, Scotland and Birmingham, U.K., both beginning in May 2015. American previously served Birmingham from its Chicago O’Hare hub, which was discontinued in 2002, and Edinburgh will represent American’s first return to Scotland since 2006, when it served Glasgow from its O’Hare hub. American will also add a second daily flight between Philadelphia and London Heathrow on March 29, 2015, which, combined with JV partner British Airways, will bring the number of daily roundtrips between Philadelphia and London to 4 total offerings.

American Airlines NEW S15 transatlantic routes:

Los Angeles – London Heathrow eff 28MAR15 (overall increase to two daily)

• AA108 LAX1755 – 1225+1LHR 77W D
• AA109 LHR1215 – 1540LAX 77W D

Miami – Frankfurt eff 14MAY15 (new daily service)

• AA250 MIA1445 – 0615+FRA 763 D
• AA251 FRA1000 – 1455MIA 763 D

New York JFK – Birmingham (new daily service)

• AA130 JFK1900 – 0710+1BHX 757 D
• AA131 BHX1000 – 1255JFK 757 D

New York JFK – Edinburgh (new daily service)

• AA130 JFK1900 – 0710+1BHX 757 D
• AA131 BHX1000 – 1255JFK 757 D

Philadelphia – London Heathrow (new daylight service, increase to 2 daily)

• AA PHL 0955 – 2210 LHR 757 D
• AA LHR 0820 – 1135 PHL 757 D

The addition of JFK-Edinburgh comes at the expense of US Airways’ existing service from its Philadelphia hub, which it launched in May 2014 as a summer-seasonal service through late September 2014.

Additionally, AA will reduce frequencies on US Airways-operated flights from Philadelphia and Charlotte to Frankfurt to a single daily flight between both markets, down from double daily. Combined with the new service from Miami and an existing daily flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Frankfurt, this represents an overall decrease in capacity on American Airlines/US Airways services to Frankfurt.

It is noteworthy that American has increased services between London Heathrow and Philadelphia just as Delta announced late last week that it would commence a daily 757 service on April 8, 2015 between the two city pairs. While Delta offers a seasonal service between Philadelphia and Paris, the route competes against a single daily service on US Airways versus London Heathrow, where it will have to compete against four daily flights on OneWorld carriers.

American’s resumption of Miami – Frankfurt comes after an 18 year dormancy period after the route was pulled in May 1997. Lufthansa currently holds a monopoly on the Miami to Frankfurt market and operates its largest fleet type, the Airbus A380, on the route. Though Miami is a predominant OneWorld hub, American’s 767-300 equipment offers a much inferior product to Lufthansa’s Airbus A380 across all cabins.

The addition of the second daily London –  Los Angeles route comes at the expense of one of American’s four daily Chicago – London Heathrow flights, which will decrease to 3 daily (5 total when combined with JV partner British Airways). However, American will swap out one of the 777-200ERs utilized on this route in exchange for a 777-300ER, representing an overall increase in capacity and offering a newer product for OneWorld customers.

Finally, American will not resume its summer seasonal service between Chicago and Helsinki, but instead JV partner Finnair will offer 3 weekly flights between the two cities effective June 13, 2015 through October 17, 2015. Compared to previous years, this is a 60 day extension of the route, as American generally only ran it between mid/late June through late August, but the number of weekly frequencies will be reduced from daily to 3 weekly. Still, the Finnair substitution is likely a more strategic replacement given that the carrier will offer a stronger point-of-sale from its local base than American vice-versa, and also sell connections beyond Finland to Eastern Europe, Russia and its vast network in Asia.