American Airlines cancels flights from Los Angeles and Phoenix to London

American Airlines cancels flights from Los Angeles and Phoenix to London

by Gary Leff July 13, 2024

In a move that was first reported by the aviation watchdog JonNYCAmerican Airlines will discontinue its third daily roundtrip Los Angeles – London Heathrow flight effective with the start of the IATA winter season on October 27, 2024. They will also suspend service from Phoenix to London Heathrow for the winter season, from October 27, 2024 to March 28, 2025. These changes will be incorporated into the schedule this weekend.

..They just announced more this afternoon internally so far.
I think 10/27 is the date they suspend it”

— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) July 12, 2024

The total number of daily flights between Los Angeles and London Heathrow in the market is reduced from 10 to 9, and American’s joint venture with BA is reduced from 6 to 5. Virgin and United both fly the route twice daily, although United seasonally reduces to once in the winter, which will bring the total number of flights in the market to 8 by spring. British Airways, meanwhile, flies to Phoenix with an Airbus A350-100.

According to an American Airlines spokesperson,

As part of an ongoing evaluation of our network, American Airlines will adjust service from London (LHR). Together with our partner British Airways, we will continue to operate service from more than 25 destinations in the United States to LHR. We are proactively reaching out to affected customers to offer alternative travel arrangements.

JonNYC reports that one of the Heathrow slots will be used to reschedule a Chicago frequency.

This comes as American has increased its summer capacity in Europe compared with a year ago by more than the industry average and as Delta’s earnings announcement and reduced profit expectations suggest there are too many seats flying relative to demand.

Winter demand across the pond always drops noticeably, so transatlantic low-cost carriers face a big challenge as they have no counter-seasonal hubs to send planes to. It’s easy to make money filling planes flying to Europe in the summer, but business dries up in the winter. It’s unclear whether American will take the opportunity of fewer transatlantic Boeing 777 flights to retrofit Boeing 777-300ERs by removing first class and installing its new business class suites, or whether we’ll see more wide-body domestic flights as early as Cancun.

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