American Airlines to Cut Capacity to London

DALLAS — Later this year, American Airlines (AA) intends to start reducing capacity on long-haul routes to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).

The Fort Worth-based airline is axing one of the three daily flights from LAX to LHR on October 27, 2024, according to Cirium Diio data corroborated by airlinegeeks.com.

American will also decrease service on its PHX-LHR route during the winter between October 27 and March 28. This is the only long-haul international route operated by AA from its hub in Arizona, competing with a British Airways (BA) daily service.

Reductions Across Operations

Due to the pandemic, AA canceled the barely year-old PHX-LHR route in March 2020, starting it back in April 2022 and diminishing it this winter, adding to other cuts across the board.

In May of this year, the carrier reduced its sales forecast, projecting a 6% decline in unit revenues in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

Last month, AA paused new pilot hiring, notifying pilots who had already been conditionally hired that the carrier did not plan to have any new-hire pilot classes for the remainder of 2024.