American Airlines Reduces International Routes Due to 787 Delays

27.04.2024 - 13:41 / skift.com / United Airlines / Southwest Airlines / Bob Jordan / Paris / Meghna Maharishi

American Airlines said Friday it would reduce some of its international routes during the second half of the year and early into 2025 because of ongoing Boeing 787 Dreamliner delays. 

The carrier is the latest to trim its schedule as a result of Boeing delivery delays.

“We’re making these adjustments now to ensure we’re able to re-accommodate customers on affected flights,” American said in a statement. “We’ll be proactively reaching out to impacted customers to offer alternate travel arrangements.”

American will suspend multiple routes to Europe at the end of the summer. Here are the affected routes:

American said it will also reduce flights from Miami to Rio de Janeiro, JFK to Buenos Aires and JFK to Rome. Some of the carrier’s Hawaii routes will also see reductions. For example, American said it would no longer fly from Dallas-Fort Worth to Kona this winter. 

Despite the cuts, American is also increasing capacity on other routes. Philadelphia to Barcelona flights will fly daily starting in January. American said it would also operate flights from Miami to Sao Paulo three times a day from October 27 to March 25. 

Boeing said it would delay the production of the 787 due to a shortage of certain parts. The plane maker previously halted 787 deliveries in 2021 due to manufacturing issues. 

American isn’t the only carrier to be affected by the Boeing delivery delays. Southwest Airlines said in an earnings release Thursday that it would make a rare move and exit from four airports: Syracuse, New York, Houston-IAH, Cozumel, Mexico and Bellingham, Washington. 

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan also said it planned to end 2024 with 2,000 fewer employees in a bid to cut costs due to delivery delays with the Max 7, an aircraft that has yet to be certified. 

United Airlines said it would pause pilot hiring in the spring because it doesn’t expect its orders for 80 Max 10s to be fulfilled this year. The airline also asked some of its pilots to take unpaid time off since the delivery delays reduced its forecasted block hours in 2024.