New AA Service to London - PR Newswire

[MarkLawrence]

New Flights to London Heathrow from Dallas/Fort Worth and Raleigh/Durham; A
New Route Between New York JFK and London's Stansted Airport

FORT WORTH, Texas, July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines,
the world's largest airline, is further reinforcing its commitment to
London. The airline today announced it will upgrade and increase its
service to London in the coming months by moving some of its London Gatwick
flights to London Heathrow Airport, as well as adding a new route between
New York and London's Stansted Airport (STN), which will have significant
benefits for many of American's premium business customers. As a result,
American will fly as many as 20 roundtrips a day between the United States
and London once all the changes are in place.
American said it will begin serving London's Heathrow Airport (LHR)
from both Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. (RDU), effective
March 29, 2008. Heathrow is one of Europe's premier airports with worldwide
connections for those who wish to travel beyond London.
In addition, American will begin its new route between New York's John
F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and London's Stansted Airport
effective Oct. 28, 2007. American also said it will begin a second
roundtrip between JFK and Stansted in the spring of 2008. With express
train service, Stansted is convenient to London's growing financial and
business districts.
American plans to switch one of its two daily DFW roundtrips to London
Heathrow, while the other DFW roundtrip will retain its current service to
London Gatwick. American's one daily Raleigh/Durham-to-London flight will
also switch to Heathrow from Gatwick. The airline's DFW-to-London service
to both Heathrow and Gatwick will continue to be flown with three-class
(First, Business and Economy/Coach) Boeing 777 aircraft with 245 seats.
American's Raleigh/Durham service will also continue to be flown with
Boeing 777 aircraft. American's JFK-Stansted service will be flown with
two-class (Business and Economy/Coach) Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 221
seats, including 30 Next Generation Business Class seats.
"These are significant schedule developments and a continuing
commitment driven by the London market's importance to our customers, as
well as Heathrow's worldwide connections through our oneworld(R) partners,"
said Gerard Arpey, American's Chairman and CEO. "This will be the first
time London-bound passengers using our DFW or Raleigh/Durham gateways will
be able to fly directly to Heathrow, which is London's leading airport.
"In addition, our new service to London Stansted will provide our
premium travelers an alternative London airport and convenient access to
growing business districts," Arpey said. "Our customers have asked for this
choice of airports, and we are going to meet that need at competitive
prices."
Arpey also noted that American's premium passengers will have access to
a departure lounge facility at Stansted when service begins. At JFK,
American offers one of the premier international arrival and departure
facilities anywhere with its new $1.3 billion terminal, which features 84
ticketing positions, security checkpoints capable of handling 1,800
travelers per hour, a new U.S. Customs and Immigration facility which can
handle 1,600 customers per hour, two new Admirals Club Lounges including a
soon-to-open new 11,200 square foot Admirals Club in the international
concourse, as well a new Flagship Lounge for international First Class
passengers, with total lounge seating for 461 -- all designed to provide
features that make international travel more pleasant.
In addition to the new or upgraded London services, American will
continue to serve London Heathrow from New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare,
Boston, Los Angeles and Miami.
Here are the tentative schedules of American's new or upgraded service
to London (all times local):
Route: Service Begins: Departs: Arrives: Aircraft:
JFK-STN Oct. 28, 2007 8:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. next day Boeing 767-300
STN-JFK Oct. 29, 2007 10:15 a.m. 1:15 p.m. same day Boeing 767-300
DFW-LHR March 29, 2008 5:20 p.m. 8:25 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-DFW March 30, 2008 10:15 a.m. 2:15 p.m. same day Boeing 777
RDU-LHR March 29, 2008 6:25 p.m. 6:55 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-RDU March 30, 2008 11:25 a.m. 2:55 p.m. same day Boeing 777

[RDU-JFK]

Glad to see the RDU-LGW flight is going to LHR. Woo hoo!

[Iberia A340-600]

I'm surprised JFK-STN is a 767-300 rather then a 757-200.

[adam613]

I'm surprised JFK-STN is a 767-300 rather then a 757-200.

They said they're gearing it towards premium customers...if you were a premium customer, would you want to spend 8 hours on a 757? :)

[njgtr82]

I'm surprised JFK-STN is a 767-300 rather then a 757-200.

Maybe trying to pull pax from CO this way?

[Nonstop2AUH]

If STN is for premium pax, they are probably thinking they can pick up some of the Maxjet or even Eos crowd, but they don't offer the exclusivity of Eos and the "next generation" AA business class on the 767 is not very "next generation," especially compared to what they have on the 777 and what BA and VS offer to LHR. So, to fly AA from JFK-STN, you are going to have to really want to be going to that part of London, because the onboard experience is going to be inferior to what most offer to LHR. Probably the real objective is to offer AA's corporate contract customers another London airport option and to link economy pax to the many onward LCC services that operate from STN.

[MarkLawrence]

The big thing going into STN instead of LHR or LGW is that if you are driving around the area, you don't necessarily have to get on the M25 (England's mobile parking lot) - Luton is just as good for that! If I could stay off the M25, I'd prefer to fly into STN any day!!

[T-Bird76]

DFW-LHR is a huge boom for AA, this route will be a cash cow for them. The ability to connect most of South America and Central America via DFW to Europe is absolutely huge for AA. I can see the STD JFK link up as an attempt to draw a lower fare customer. No way will they take MaxJet's and EOS's customers, totally different market and AA doens't have enough seats in biz class to make a dent.

[Winglets747]

I see AA's new JFK-STD flight as further proof that these new business-only airlines are working.

[bonanzabucks]

DFW-LHR is a huge boom for AA, this route will be a cash cow for them. The ability to connect most of South America and Central America via DFW to Europe is absolutely huge for AA. I can see the STD JFK link up as an attempt to draw a lower fare customer. No way will they take MaxJet's and EOS's customers, totally different market and AA doens't have enough seats in biz class to make a dent.

Actually, South Americans going to Europe aren't connecting through the US anymore because of new visa restrictions. They now require a "transit visa", which is kind of a hassle to get, just to change planes. Of all the US airlines, AA was most affected by this change because of the new transfer visa.

Besides, why would they want to connect through DFW when they can go through MIA, which has a newer terminal and much better connections to Latin America? MIA had flights to LHR to begin with.

[NcSchu]

I'm surprised JFK-STN is a 767-300 rather then a 757-200.

Maybe trying to pull pax from CO this way?

Not CO, CO doesn't fly to STN from EWR, they're trying to target Maxjet and Eos.

[njgtr82]

I wonder why CO is gonna switch the IAH flights from Gatwick to Heathrow and keep the EWR flights into Gatwick, could this be beacause of the codeshare with VS?