American Airlines will drastically cut back on long-haul international flights in response to decreased demand and travel restrictions due to the coronavirus.
The Fort Worth-based airline announced the changes late Saturday, saying it will reduce its international capacity by 75% compared to last year. The changes take effect Monday and most extend through May 6.
American will suspend all of its remaining flights to Asia, except for three flights a week from DFW International Airport to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. It’s also halting service to Sydney, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand.
The airline will also phase out flights this week to London’s Heathrow Airport from New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. It will continue once-a-day flights to London from DFW and Miami.
American earlier announced it would delay seasonal routes to popular European destinations until early May or later, based on guidance from the U.S. government and customer demand. Those destinations include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich, Paris and Zurich.
Flights to most of South America are also being suspended after Monday through May 6. That includes tourist destinations such as Bogota, Colombia; Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Lima, Peru.
The company said it will continue to fly short-haul international trips as scheduled, including flights to Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean and some markets in the northern part of South America.
American said it expects its domestic capacity in April to see a 20% drop compared to last year, followed by a 30% year-over-year drop in May. (See the full list of changes below.)
Customers who booked flights to Europe, including the United Kingdom and Ireland, before March 15, are being offered waivers for change fees through May 31, the airline said. If a flight is canceled and customers choose not to rebook, they may request a refund.
The combination of the drop in demand, widespread and growing restrictions on travel, and uncertainty over how long it will last is unprecedented, even by the U.S. travel industry’s decline after the 2001 terror attacks and the brief but sharp downturn in global travel during the SARS outbreak in Asia in 2002.
Security measures after 9/11 made the few passengers who kept flying feel safe, and they sensed things would get better, said Seth Kaplan, a transportation analyst and longtime industry observer.
“This is new territory. You have a 9/11-like drop in demand, but you can’t tell people that you’re absolutely safe to fly — you’re not absolutely safe around any group of people,“ Kaplan said.
The U.S. ban on travelers from Europe affected 7,300 flights and more than 2 million airline seats, according to travel data firm Cirium. England and Ireland were added to the ban this weekend.
The UK accounted for 4.7 million visitors to the U.S. in 2018 who collectively spent $15.7 billion, according to the U.S. Travel Association trade group. Ireland’s 531,000 visitors to the U.S. spent an additional $2 billion in 2018.
International flights are among the most profitable for airlines, even though they are flown less frequently than domestic routes. American’s DFW-to-London routes brought in more than $420 million in revenue in a 12-month period and its DFW-to-Tokyo Narita connection accounted for $288.6 million.
American last week said it would freeze hiring and retire planes early as it braces for economic pain from the growing global shutdown over coronavirus.
On Friday, Delta Air Lines said it will cut its flying by 40% and suspend all flights to Europe except London for at least 30 days, the deepest capacity cut in company history and far more than it planned just a few days ago.
The airline is asking many workers to voluntarily take unpaid time off. It will park 300 of its approximately 900 airplanes as global demand for travel deteriorates at an alarming rate because of fear about the spreading coronavirus.
“The speed of the demand falloff is unlike anything we’ve seen,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian wrote in a memo to employees. “We are moving quickly to preserve cash and protect our company.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
