American Airlines' international expansion next summer will
include its first flight to Africa, the introduction of service to Tel Aviv and
Krakow and additional service to two other cities in Eastern Europe.
The carrier will begin summer service three times per week
from Philadelphia to Casablanca, Morocco, on June 3, running through Sept. 8.
The service begins after Morocco's Royal Air Maroc enters
the Oneworld alliance, which will enable further connections into Africa,
according to American VP of network and schedule planning Vasu Raja.
Year-round service to Tel Aviv will begin Sept. 9, 2020, and
fly three times per week from American's Dallas-Fort Worth hub. American will target
the tech industry with routing via DFW through Austin and San Jose. "Tel
Aviv has been the largest unserved city in the American Airlines network until
now, and flying it from DFW makes all the sense in the world for us," Raja
said on American's Tell Me Why podcast. "The North Texas economy continues
to boom with a lot of business going back and forth to Israel."
Additionally, American is adding seasonal service from
Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Prague, Budapest and Krakow, Poland.
The service—four times per week to Budapest and five times per week to both
Prague and Krakow—will begin in early May and run through late October. Krakow
is a new destination for American; it already serves Budapest and Prague from
Philadelphia.
All the new routes remain subject to regulatory approvals.