American Airlines has apparently thrown in the towel on
turning Seattle into an international gateway.
American has cut all
international flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. That
includes a route from Seattle to London and a highly coveted slot at Heathrow
Airport.
American’s partner, British Airways, will now fly the route
solo from Seattle. In a statement, American said:
“As part of a continuous evaluation of our network, American
Airlines has made the difficult decision to discontinue service between Seattle
(SEA) and London (LHR). We plan to operate 25 daily flights to LHR next summer
from 10 destinations across the U.S. Our partner, British Airways, continues to
operate service between SEA and LHR. We're proactively reaching out to impacted
to customers to offer alternate travel arrangements.”
American will add a second flight to London from Miami to
compensate for the loss of the route to Seattle.
Cutting all international flights is a tacit admission that
Seattle did not work as a global hub as American had hoped it would.
American will continue to utilize its hubs in Los Angeles,
Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte, among others, as part of its hub and spoke
system. That includes more flights to its headquarters and main hub in
Dallas/Fort Worth.
American is still hoping to avoid a strike by its flight
attendants.
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