Although you should still be determining plans for Labor Day weekend, American Airways is already fascinated by the place you will need to fly subsequent summer time.
The Fort Value-based service simply introduced a major long-haul growth for summer time 2026 that features what the airline says are six “new” routes.
The reality is that simply one of many six routes is technically “new” — however however, it is thrilling to see American flex its long-haul muscle past tried-and-true transatlantic locations like London and Paris.
Updating the map: Probably the most thrilling new airline routes of 2025 (up to now)
You will discover all the small print under.
1 new transatlantic flight
American’s solely true “new” flight will join the Dallas-Fort Value metro space with Athens, Greece, starting Could 21, 2026. The airline will deploy a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on this each day flight.
By subsequent summer time, American will fly to Athens Worldwide Airport (ATH) from a whopping 5 U.S. gateways, probably the most of any U.S. airline.
It will be attention-grabbing to see how this new route performs, particularly since it is the longest and furthest west of any of the opposite American gateway cities to Athens, which embody Charlotte, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. However Dallas Fort Value Worldwide Airport (DFW) is American’s greatest hub, so it is doable that this new route might truly take some connecting visitors away from a few of its different flights to Athens.
However, Greece continues to be a well-liked vacation spot for People, so the airline probably is betting that it will not have an excessive amount of hassle filling up the 234 seats it will fly.
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5 resuming long-haul routes
The opposite 5 routes that American introduced on Thursday have all been operated up to now. They embody:
- DFW to Ezeiza Worldwide Airport (EZE) in Buenos Aires, service operating from Could 21 to Aug. 3
- DFW to Zurich Airport (ZRH), service operating from Could 21 to Aug. 4
- Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), year-round service beginning March 29
- Philadelphia Worldwide Airport (PHL) to Budapest Ferenc Liszt Worldwide Airport (BUD), summer time seasonal service beginning Could 21
- PHL to Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG), summer time seasonal service beginning Could 21
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The 2 flights from DFW are designed for “world soccer followers,” in line with American. Studying between the strains, the airline is focusing on followers headed to the FIFA World Cup, of which 9 video games will happen in Dallas subsequent summer time.
American final flew from DFW to ZRH in 2007, and it is constantly flown from DFW to EZE within the winter.
In the meantime, the airline final flew from MIA to MXP in 2020, however it dropped the flight on the outset of the pandemic. This service enhances the just lately launched flight from MIA to Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO), which took off earlier this summer time.
Lastly, the BUD and PRG routes have been final flown within the 2018 and 2019 winter seasons. They have not returned for the reason that pandemic, and this time the airline will deploy a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on each companies.
Whereas frequent American flyers would possibly’ve most popular extra really “new” routes for subsequent summer time, Brian Znotins, the airline’s community chief, instructed me that “we’re attempting to not evaluate to 2019 anymore… We do not work by means of an inventory of what we tried in 2019, and people will not be going to be the primary issues we strive in 2026.”
As an alternative, he seems to be towards market demand, and that is pointing to Budapest and Prague. “We take a look at our net searches on aa.com and on the prime 5 locations [that people search to but] that we do not fly to, and folks get on aa.com and seek for Prague and Budapest,” he defined.
American will compete with Delta’s nonstop service from John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to PRG, and luxuriate in a monopoly on U.S. service to Budapest. The final service on the route was LOT Polish Airways, which left the market in 2022.
In fact, that assumes Delta or United will not match American’s plan to fly to Budapest — one thing totally doable provided that we have but to study the place the 2 different “Large Three” airways intend to increase subsequent summer time.
Upgauging to Tokyo
American additionally has some information for transpacific flyers: the airline will upgauge its service to Tokyo subsequent summer time with extra premium plane. This contains flying a Boeing 777-300ER on the route from Dallas to Tokyo, and a Boeing 777-200 from Los Angeles to Tokyo.
Each of those flights are presently operated by the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, and in comparison with summer time 2025, American will improve premium seating capability on these routes by greater than 45%.
Notice that the airline is not planning to fly its new premium-heavy Boeing 787-9P variant on these routes, which provides the best density of premium seats in American’s long-haul fleet. That may primarily be deployed to London on the outset, in line with Znotins.
Backside line
American’s upcoming long-haul routes for subsequent summer time are definitely thrilling, particularly since they embody some secondary European cities like Budapest and Prague.
Giving vacationers extra nonstop choices is nice, however since these two routes can be operated from PHL, loads of flyers will nonetheless want to attach in Philly to get onto these flights. (Working the routes from New York as an alternative would provide a far greater catchment space to fill these nonstops.)
However, I would contend that connecting in Philly is way extra handy than connecting in London or Madrid, which is what American flyers presently have to do so as to get to those locations.
Znotins even spelled this out as a part of the airline’s community technique because it pertains to the transatlantic three way partnership it participates in with British Airways, Iberia and Finnair. “Our position is to serve secondary Europe on behalf of the three way partnership, and their position is to serve secondary U.S. And that is proper according to that,” he stated.
All instructed, American’s summer time 2026 schedule feels a bit extra of the identical. This is not a serious growth like we have seen through the years from United (and to a lesser extent, Delta). Relatively, this growth looks like American is taking the protected guess — including slightly extra aptitude to its community with out dipping its toes too far throughout the Atlantic into extra obscure territory, which is what I would anticipate United and Delta to in all probability do once more subsequent yr.
However the period of American including new long-haul routes to extra area of interest European cities is not too far off within the distance. That is thanks to approaching deliveries of Airbus A321XLR jets, the primary of which is anticipated to fly for American later this yr.
“We anticipate having an enormous A321XLR development push in 2027. And so, this time subsequent yr, I feel we’ll have much more new routes and new locations to speak about targeted on that airplane,” Znotins stated.
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