American Airlines Announces Major Flight Network Shake-Up

Austin, Texas, used to be considered one of the hottest cities in the country.

American Airlines certainly thought so.

Now, apparently, it doesn’t think so anymore.

In a significant network shake-up, American has reversed its thinking about Austin and cut 21 routes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS).

And the flight cuts aren’t just to secondary airports. They include such big names as Washington, DC, Kansas City, Tampa and the Bahamas.

In a statement, American said, “Austin remains an important market for American as we continuously evaluate our network. Together with our partners, American will continue to offer customers service to 15 of the top 20 markets from AUS, while continuing to offer one-stop connections across our comprehensive global network to more than 350 destinations around the world.”

American will still have connecting flights to most of its hubs, with the exception of Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington and LaGuardia in New York.

American also said that while the number of cuts might be daunting, it still plans to offer 19 more flights than it did in 2019 out of Austin. Most noteworthy, almost all the flights cut out of Austin were on American Airlines regional planes.

Still, Texas’ capital city did not seem to work out for American. Austin is about a four-hour drive from American’s headquarters and central hub in Dallas. The cuts are somewhat of a surprise since American invested so much in its service from Austin just four years ago.

Those included domestic and international flights.

Southwest Airlines and Delta are poised to step in and fill the void left by American.

Whether American will follow through on its plans to build a 15,000-square-foot lounge at the airport in Austin remains to be seen.

Both Dallas-based airlines, American and Southwest, are dealing with possible strike issues.

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