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American Airlines to scale back Los Angeles as an Asian Gateway
September 23rd 2021
Stiff competition from Asian airlines is prompting American Airlines (AA) to scale back wide-body flying from its Los Angeles (LA) hub, according to a senior executive. Read More » The determination of Asian carriers to fly to LA will see the U.S. airline giant move Asia-bound services operating from the Californian destination to other hubs such as Dallas and Seattle. The strategy was revealed in comments by AA vice president of network planning, Brian Znotins, published by U.S. blog, Views from the Wing. Znotins said in a transcript LA had been a challenge for AA for several years because of the big number of Asian carriers serving the city. This meant routes such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai underperformed. “And so, for us, what we have decided is to scale back LA wide-body flying,’’ he said. “Shanghai moves to Seattle. Beijing will focus more on Dallas. Hong Kong will focus more on Dallas. The Sydneys and the Heathrows will remain at LA because those markets are not the Asian markets that are overserved.” Znotins said Seattle, the home port of American partner, Alaska Airlines, will become a more prominent gateway with the addition of long-haul routes to destinations such as Bangalore and Shanghai.
