Just ahead of Christmas, American Airlines is ready for the busy travel rush through the remainder of the year. On Monday, the airline said it expects millions of passengers to fly on the carrier over nearly three weeks through the beginning of 2023.
The news comes after American Airlines (American) successfully performed during the normal Thanksgiving travel demand a few weeks ago. With its best completion factor during Thanksgiving in the last five years, the Fort Worth-based airline has confidence that it will have a similar accomplishment throughout the Christmas season.
Ready for the rush
The airline said more than 100,000 employees are prepared for the influx of travelers in the coming weeks.
Inside the numbers
A breakdown of the airline’s travel expectations indicates that:
97,715 flights are scheduled
10 million + customers are expected
December 22nd will be its busiest travel day, with 5,520 departures planned
December 16th will be the second most active, with 5,514 departures
December 25th, Christmas Day, will be the least active, with 3,831 departures
Last month, the oneworld airline ran a safe and reliable operation over its Thanksgiving period, which lasted from November 17-29th. American also noted that its operations schedule around the US holiday was 20% larger than its next major competitor.
The carrier recorded its best completion factor this Thanksgiving since 2017. Additionally, the airline experienced its best-ever controllable completion factor with only 31 controllable flight cancelations out of more than 60,000 flights.
As the world’s largest carrier, American has plenty of flights scheduled at its more than 300 airports served worldwide and 222 in the US. This winter, the carrier will reportedly operate more than 5,000 daily flights, totaling more than 700,000 planned for the season. That is more than United Airlines and Delta Air Lines’ scheduled flights and more than Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and Allegiant Airlines’ flights combined.
Booming DFW demand
Among the airline’s top 10 airports this winter, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), the carrier’s largest hub, has the most flights at more than 104,000. American operates an impressive network from DFW, flying more routes than its competitors, such as United and Delta, from their busiest hubs.
Jim Moses, American’s Vice President of DFW Hub Operations, spoke about the airport to The Dallas Morning News.
“The demand through DFW Airport is some of the greatest demand any of our partners see. Because they [passengers] fly into DFW and have that ability to connect to American’s network out of DFW.”
As American prepares to finish 2022 strong, the carrier is focused on expanding its network even further into the new year with the announcement of new or returning routes.
The airline will restore daily flights to Tokyo Haneda International Airport from DFW next spring after only flying to Tokyo–Narita since the summer of 2020.
Next summer, American will double its DFW to Rome–Fiumicino flights from 1 daily to 2 daily and will launch flights connecting travelers to the British Virgin Islands from the US mainland.
Dallas Morning News