American Airlines has removed seven long-haul routes from its current schedule, either canceling them outright or delaying sales until 2023. One casualty of the cut is the long-delayed flight from Bangalore (BLR) to Seattle (SEA), which was initially set to debut in 2020. Now, the route is facing another setback and possibly a cancelation.

Not all will survive

In a memo seen by The Points Guy, American Airlines has made the decision to ax its long-haul ticket sales on seven routes starting November 2022. The two most apparent decisions are Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) to Beijing Daxing (PKX) and SEA to Shanghai (PVG), which are delayed until summer 2023. The carrier will continue services to PVG with its one-stop connection in Seoul.

The first cut of the announcement is DFW to Tel Aviv (TLV), which American announced in early 2021. This route was delayed until May 2022 to give time for tourism-driven bookings since this was the carrier's first attempt at a non-VFR route to Israel. However, it seems the revenue has not materialized, and the carrier is axing flights instead.

From November 3rd, American is bidding adieu to three Latin American routes. Flights from JFK to Cali and Medellin in Colombia will cease as will services from DFW to Lima. The move comes as the airline is facing "reduced demand" and will consolidate around flying to three cities from Miami instead.

The two JFK routes were part of the Northeast Alliance with JetBlue, which is now looking to add another city instead.

No Bangalore-Seattle

For the third year running, American Airlines has delayed the planned Bangalore-Seattle route, making it likely that the service will never take off. This time, the carrier cites ongoing airspace restrictions over Russia as the reason for a delay until at least summer 2023.

However, it is clear that American is still dealing with a shortage of business travelers for this route. Connecting two major technology hubs, the carrier announced this flight to cater to corporate demand and tap into its partnership with Alaska Airlines from Seattle.

With high-yield demand still curtailed and new flights from Bangalore to the West Coast available, American may pull the plug on this route for good.

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Elephant in the room

While American did not directly address the matter in its memo, another issue holding back the carrier is a shortage of Boeing 787s. The carrier retired all of its A330s, 757s, and 767s during the pandemic to focus on modern alternatives. This plan may have worked out if Boeing was not hit with a year-long delivery ban by the FAA, forcing American to cancel flights due to a capacity shortage.

For now, long-haul remains on the backfoot at the airline but do expect to see more flights once the planes start rolling in.

What do you think about American's route cuts? Let us know in the comments!

Source: The Points Guy