What This Decision by American Airlines Says About How Fast Demand Will Recover
Skift Take
The surprise here is not how many international flights American Airlines is cutting this summer. It is how many the airline intends to operate. American is only cutting 60 percent of its international flights this summer, compared to 2019. That seems optimistic.
In the past five years, U.S. airlines have boosted profits by adding extra summer flights to Europe, capitalizing on consumers' near insatiable desire to travel abroad in June, July, and August. But on Thursday American Airlines admitted the great summer European cash grab will not return in 2020.
American announced a slew of global cuts for summer, but reserved the most drastic changes for its seasonal European schedule, slashing a bunch of routes that operate only a few months a year. These are flights, often leaving from Charlotte or Philadelphia, filled with tourists going to European hotspots such as Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Prague, Berlin, and Dubrovnik.
If they still want to travel, American’s customers still should be able to reach most of these cities, but they may need to switch their connection to another American hub as the airline reduces its transatlantic footprint. In some cases, American may push customers to its
