American Airlines is making some big changes to its network.
The Fort Worth-based carrier filed plans over the weekend to launch five new routes, three of which are from its hub at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA). The updates were first spotted in Cirium schedules and later confirmed by the carrier’s spokesperson.
American is also cutting a LaGuardia route, changing its wide-body deployment strategy and making several other changes.
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You will find all the details below.
American adds 3 new LaGuardia routes
Headlining the updates is the addition of three new routes from LaGuardia.
American will begin Saturday-only service once weekly from LGA:
- Bozeman, Montana
- Calgary, Alberta
- Kalispell, Montana
All the new routes will take off from June and will operate till August 30.
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American will deploy the Boeing 737 MAX 8 on all routes, with 16 first-class recliners, 24 main cabin extra economy seats and 132 standard economy seats.
At 2,035 miles, the flight from LaGuardia to Kalispell will become the longest route from LGA. Currently, Delta’s flight from LGA to Salt Lake City ranks as the longest LGA route, measuring 1,982 miles, according to Sirius Schedules.
These passages are somewhat rare for LaGuardia. That’s because The airport’s “perimeter rule,” which prohibits airlines from flying to airports more than 1,500 miles away with only two exceptions — flights to Denver and any route operated on Saturdays.
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All three of American’s new routes are longer than 1,500 miles, but the airline is taking advantage of the Saturday exception to operate the routes.
(LaGuardia is also slot-bound, meaning airlines need special takeoff and landing permits to operate flights there, but no slots are required for Saturday flights.)
While several airlines have long tried to operate Saturday-only service from LaGuardia, they have not been successful because fliers generally prefer more frequencies on more days. (Just look at how Delta and Spirit have trailed their LaGuardia routes.)
This time, however, American is clearly making a play for leisure travelers.
“In summer 2025, American will launch five new routes to help connect customers to their favorite outdoor destinations. From convenient access to breathtaking glaciers, awe-inspiring wildlife and unique natural landscapes, travelers planning their New Year’s resolutions have more to enjoy. There will be ways. The great outdoors from Nova Scotia to Montana,” an American spokesperson shared in a statement.
American adds 2 more routes
Continuing with the leisure theme, American will also add two other Saturday-only routes for next summer.
The first, departing from Chicago to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 21 and ending on Oct. Will work up to 4. The second, Dallas/Fort Worth to Quebec, will operate from August 9 to November 1.
Both these routes will be operated by Embraer E175 regional jets. In fact, the E175 from Dallas will become America’s longest flight. (It measures 1,655 miles and will take about four hours.)
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American 1 crosses the LaGuardia route
While American is making attractive leisure additions to its network, it’s coming at the expense of one route: a short regional hop from LaGuardia to Philadelphia.
The route will be effective from June 5.
American confirmed the cut with the following statement:
As part of an ongoing evaluation of our network, American will discontinue service between New York (LGA) and Philadelphia (PHL). Customers will continue to have access to more than 85 New York destinations, including new service to outdoor leisure destinations starting in 2025. We are actively reaching out to affected customers with alternative travel arrangements.
While this short route connects two American hubs, many aviation observers have long dismissed it as “slot squatting”.
During peak periods, airline schedules are optimized to efficiently utilize all slots in their portfolio. However, during periods of weak demand, airlines sometimes look for low-cost regional flights to “slot squat”. Instead of selling or giving up valuable slots, carriers will fill their schedule during weak demand seasons with cheaper regional operations to use up all their slots.
In this case, it’s possible that American found a better use for its LaGuardia slot than flying to Philly.
American’s delayed wide-body jet
As part of this weekend schedule load, American will delay the restart of Chicago to Paris from April to May. The airline will reduce daily frequencies between Miami and Buenos Aires from three to two in April and temporarily suspend service between Miami and Paris in May.
American is not cutting service to any destinations as part of this adjustment.
“As a result of ongoing Boeing 787 delivery delays, American is adjusting service on some routes in spring 2025 to ensure we are able to re-accommodate customers on affected flights. We will proactively reach out to our affected customers to offer alternative travel. “Boeing is managed and committed to mitigating the impact of these delays while continuing to offer a comprehensive global network,” American said in a statement.
If it’s any consolation, the American will stretch the season between Chicago and Barcelona for his services. The route was originally scheduled to end around Labor Day weekend, but will now operate through October.
American said it was able to accommodate these additional flights “as part of our network and fleet optimization.”
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