American Airlines is dropping 27 routes, with New York taking the biggest hit — see the full list

Taylor Rains

Nov 16, 2021, 03:33 IST

American Airlines is dropping 27 routes, with New York taking the biggest hit — see the full list

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

American Airlines is dropping 27 routes in 2022, 18 of which touch New York City airports.
The move comes after the airline said it was bolstering its Northeast Alliance with JetBlue Airways.

American Airlines dropped 27 routes over the weekend as it continued to strategically shuffle its network.

American Airlines is making more route adjustments as it prepares for 2022, with New York City airports feeling the brunt. On Monday, the carrier confirmed to Insider that it had filed 27 route cuts since Friday, 18 of which touch New York's John. F. Kennedy International Airport or LaGuardia Airport. The additional nine cuts include service to Canada and some of the carrier's domestic service out of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

"Over the weekend, American optimized its flying schedule to better connect customers with the destinations most important to them," an American spokesperson said. "Part of that process resulted in the winding down of a handful of routes, including our dedicated shuttle service. We're proactively reaching out to customers affected by these changes to offer alternate travel arrangements."

Last Tuesday, American announced that it was strengthening its partnership with its Northeast Alliance partner JetBlue Airways despite a looming lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice in September. The agency says the alliance violates antitrust laws and will negatively affect customers and competition. Nevertheless, the pair has been increasing operations out of the Northeast since July 2020, and even with American's route reductions, the alliance still offers the most frequencies out of New York, an American spokesperson said.

JetBlue is set to operate 10 of the 18 routes dropped by American out of New York, Cirium data showed.

New York isn't the only market taking a hit. Canada is set to lose five American routes from the US, including a complete pullout from Ottawa, the country's capital, the airline said. American confirmed the news in a statement to The Points Guy. It said demand had not returned to the city since the carrier cut operations there in June 2020, which forced American to cease service indefinitely. The website for Ottawa International Airport listed United Airlines as the only US carrier still serving the city.

In addition to cutting flights to Ottawa, American has slashed flights from Phoenix to Calgary, Alberta, and Vancouver, British Columbia, as well as from JFK to Montreal and Toronto.

American's regional service is also getting cut, with routes such as Boston to Raleigh, South Carolina, and Philadelphia to Charleston, West Virginia, getting the boot. But, unlike United, which last Tuesday told Insider that it would be ending service to 11 small cities indefinitely, American intends to continue serving the markets getting cut with routes from other hubs, the carrier said.

The following five routes are set to be dropped from JFK: