James lives and breathes route development. Educated in Air Transport Management at Loughborough University and Cranfield University, James has a PhD in Airline Strategy and Economics. James was Market Opportunity Analyst at London Luton Airport and Chief Analyst at anna.aero. He taught airline strategy and economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students for five years and has worked closely with multiple carriers on route and market intelligence projects. He is based near London, UK.
American Airlines has long-haul flights from 11 hubs and other airports in 2026. They include Las Vegas, but that's only for the Consumer Electronics Show. Regular services are from ten of them, including
Philadelphia International Airport (PHL).
Looking ahead to July 2027, Cirium Diio data shows that the
oneworld member will have 22 daily long-haul departures from PHL. Services have risen by 16% compared to the same month in 2026, cementing PHL as American's second-largest long-haul hub. Given the elimination of Doha flights in March 2026, this growth is entirely because of the carrier's European network.
American Has Ended These Long-Haul Routes From Philadelphia
Since 2016, American has ended 11 long-haul links from PHL. Nine were to Europe, and two were to the Middle East. Seven of them were inherited from US Airways, from which American gained its PHL hub in the first place. The eliminated markets are summarized below. They exclude places like Casablanca. While that route was announced, flights did not begin.
|
End Year (2016-2026 Only) |
American From PHL To... |
American's Equipment (2016+ Only) |
Previously Flown By US Airways? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2016 |
Brussels |
757-200 |
Yes |
|
2016 |
Tel Aviv |
A330-200 |
Yes |
|
2018 |
Glasgow |
757-200 |
Yes |
|
2019 |
Berlin Tegel (which has since closed) |
767-300ER |
No |
|
2019 |
Bologna |
767-300ER |
No |
|
2019 |
Dubrovnik |
767-300ER |
No |
|
2019 |
Frankfurt |
A330-200 |
Yes |
|
2019 |
Munich |
A330-200, A330-300 |
Yes |
|
2019 |
Shannon |
757-200 |
Yes |
|
2020 |
Manchester |
A330-200, A330-300, 767-300ER, 787-8 |
Yes |
|
2026 |
787-9 |
No |
Virtually all the routes used the Airbus A330 (shown earlier), Boeing 757, or 767 (shown later), all of which have been removed from American's fleet. Moreover, when the carrier's operations from its other hubs are considered, only three of the cities are still in its network: Frankfurt (still served from Charlotte and Dallas), Munich (from Charlotte), and Tel Aviv (from New York JFK). American is due to return to Israel in March 2027, a few months after Delta Air Lines and United Airlines did so.
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American's Short-Time Operation To Croatia
The
oneworld member was ahead of the curve in flying to the increasingly popular Croatian tourist destination of Dubrovnik. American was the first carrier from North America to fly there, with its short-lived operation in the height of the summer in 2019, from June to September. It is likely, but unconfirmed, that the airline would have returned in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that American carried 17,782 round-trip passengers. While the data is unavailable, it was, of course, highly likely that many of them connected elsewhere via PHL. The load factor was 83.1%, which was good for a brand-new market. Of course, it is unknown what fares were needed to achieve that result. As usual, it is only one performance metric and should not be considered without more information.
While American has not returned to Dubrovnik, other changes have materialized.
United Airlines debuted from Newark in June 2021, followed a month later by
Delta Air Lines from New York JFK. While United continues to operate and now also serves Split, Delta pulled out of Dubrovnik after one season.
More broadly,
Air Canada will fly there for the first time next year, touching down from Montreal. This contributes to North America having more flights to Dubrovnik than in any other prior summer.
American's Long-Haul Network From Philadelphia In 2027
As mentioned earlier, American plans 22 daily long-haul departures in July 2027, all of which will be to Europe. 21 routes will be served. American will fly to Amsterdam (daily 787-8); Athens (daily 787-9), Barcelona (daily 787-8), Budapest (daily 787-8), Copenhagen (daily 787-8), Dublin (daily 787-8), Edinburgh (daily 787-8), Lisbon (daily 787-9), and London Heathrow (two daily 787-9).
Its network from PHL will also include Madrid (daily 787-8), Milan Malpensa (daily 787-8), Naples (daily 787-8), Nice (daily 787-8), Paris CDG (daily 787-9), Porto (new; daily A321XLR), Prague (daily 787-8), Reykjavík Keflavik (new; daily A321XLR), Rome (daily 787-9), Venice (new; daily 787-8), Vienna (daily A321XLR), and Zurich (daily 787-8).
