As social media feeds seasonally shift from the Parthenon to pumpkin patches, airlines are busily preparing for the 2025 European travel season, anticipating strong demand for international travel to proceed next summer.
American Airlines unveiled latest routes to Europe for spring and summer next yr on Thursday. The airline launched nonstop service from Chicago to Madrid starting March 30; from Philadelphia to Milan starting May 23; from Philadelphia to Edinburgh, Scotland, starting May 23 for the primary time since 2019; from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Athens, Greece starting June 5; and from Miami to Rome starting July 5.
Rivals United Airlines And Delta Air Lines are expected to publish their travel plans for 2025 in the approaching weeks.
American said transatlantic capability next summer will increase by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage in comparison with last yr, with management confident consumers will proceed to prioritize travel.
“When people saw this demand for Italy and Greece in 2023, some speculated it was just a one-year thing. But this year the strength just continued, our flights are full and yields are strong,” said Brian Znotins, American's senior vice chairman of network planning. “More capacity is needed to meet demand.”
American's data shows that travelers, including those on other airlines, often transfer in Europe to get to Athens specifically, Znotins said. Next yr, American will offer 4 each day nonstop flights from the U.S. to Athens from “more U.S. airports than any other,” and that more travelers will have the opportunity to transfer through American hubs like Charlotte.
The airline can be resuming additional European flights from its Philadelphia hub to Naples (Italy), Nice (France) and Copenhagen (Denmark) and increasing winter service between Miami and Paris into the summer season.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner delivery delays lately have caused American and other airlines to rethink a few of their flights and cancel certain international flights that use the long-haul aircraft. American can be within the strategy of retrofitting a few of its older Boeing 777s to accommodate a bigger business class cabin.
Znotins said he and his team kept each things in mind when creating next yr's map.
“There is obviously a degree of uncertainty in the world of aircraft deliveries and there is a degree of uncertainty in our reconfigurations,” Znotins said. “We are confident that we can fly these routes as advertised, but in an uncertain world it is always good to have a back-up,” akin to other hubs serving Athens, in case a passenger must be diverted.
image credit : www.cnbc.com