American Airlines has almost 1.2 million seats between the US and the Caribbean this coming December – over 38,000 each day. While things may change, it’s up by an impressive one-quarter versus December 2019. With a 27% share of non-stop seats, American is the second-largest player, behind only JetBlue. We look at American's Caribbean network.
35 destinations across the Caribbean
American's Caribbean network comprises 35 destinations in December, based on what the airline has submitted to data experts OAG. These 35 include Anguilla and Dominica, both revealed a few days ago.
Of course, Puerto Rico is considered domestic, but it is still in the Caribbean. For simplicity, Bermuda and the Bahamas have been included here. Some may disagree with them being included, so if you'd prefer to omit them, American's Caribbean network falls to 29 destinations, still a very significant number.
American's top-10 Caribbean destinations
The top-10 destinations, ordered by total seats, are as follows. Most have grown strongly since 2019, helped by the big focus on leisure demand and, to a lesser degree, visiting friends and relatives. These include Punta Cana, up by 60%, with a new route Austin and Boston last served in April 2019, together with across-the-board capacity rises.
- San Juan
- Montego Bay
- Nassau
- Punta Cana
- Santo Domingo
- Havana
- Providenciales
- St Thomas
- Aruba
- Grand Cayman
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Non-stops from 11 US airports
Unlike in December 2019, when nine US airports had nine-stop service, some 11 airports will this December. These include Austin, introduced in 2021, with three routes to Nassau, San Juan, and Punta Cana. And also Fort Lauderdale, with one route to Port-au-Prince, last served in late 2018.
Nonetheless, it is, of course, enormously about American's Miami hub, with nearly six in ten of the airline's seats and 34 routes to the Caribbean. With only 3%, New York JFK is a far cry from when the high-density A300 was deployed to the region.
- Miami: with approximately 57.3% of Caribbean capacity; 34 routes
- Charlotte: 18.5%; 23
- Philadelphia: 8.1%; 13
- Dallas Fort Worth: 5.4%; 10
- Chicago O'Hare: 3.0%; 9
- New York JFK: 3.0%; 7
- Austin: 3.0%; 3
- Fort Lauderdale: 0.9%; 1
- Boston: 0.6%; 5
- Washington National: 0.4%; 1
- New York La Guardia: 0.3%; 3
What are American's main routes?
Based on the latest available data from July 26th, American will have 109 routes to the Caribbean this December. Miami to Havana will have the most seats, with the top-10 identified below. Combined, they'll have one-third of the total monthly capacity, showing their importance.
- Miami-Havana
- Miami-Santo Domingo
- Miami-San Juan
- Charlotte-Montego Bay
- Miami-Nassau
- Miami-Kingston
- Miami-Port-au-Prince
- Miami-Providenciales
- Miami-St Thomas
- Charlotte-San Juan
Miami to Havana... and Dominica and Anguilla
Miami to Havana, some 235 miles apart, has overtaken Santo Domingo and San Juan to achieve the top spot, with the Cuban capital having a six-daily service. Meanwhile, Port-au-Prince has jumped significantly from 25th in December 2019 to seventh. This market has more than doubled (+117%), meaning that Miami-Barbados, previously ninth, has been pushed out.
A special mention must go to Miami to Dominica and Anguilla, both beginning in December and both twice-weekly. Booking data shows tiny local markets, at about 4,000 and 1,000 passengers in 2019, respectively. If traffic from all of North America is included, Anguilla rises to 9,000 while it's about 28,000 for Dominica.
Will you be traveling to the Caribbean? Let us know in the comments.