Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of American Airlines departing from Barcelona Airport on February 24, 2023.
JanValls | Nurphoto | Getty Images
As social media feeds seasonally shift from the Parthenon to pumpkin patches, airlines are busily preparing for the 2025 European travel season, anticipating strong demand for international travel to continue next summer.
American Airlines unveiled new routes to Europe for spring and summer next year on Thursday. The airline launched nonstop service from Chicago to Madrid starting March 30; from Philadelphia to Milan starting May 23; from Philadelphia to Edinburgh, Scotland, starting May 23 for the first time since 2019; from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Athens, Greece starting June 5; and from Miami to Rome starting July 5.
Rivals United Airlines And Delta Air Lines are expected to publish their travel plans for 2025 in the coming weeks.
American said transatlantic capacity next summer will increase by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage compared to last year, with management confident consumers will continue to prioritize travel.
“When people saw this demand for Italy and Greece in 2023, some speculated it would only be a one-year thing. But this year the strength has just continued, our flights are full and yields are strong,” said Brian Znotins, American's senior vice president of network planning. “More capacity is needed to meet demand.”
American's data shows that travelers, including those on other airlines, often transfer in Europe to get to Athens in particular, Znotins said. Next year, American will offer four daily nonstop flights from the U.S. to Athens from “more U.S. airports than any other,” and that more travelers will be able to transfer through American hubs like Charlotte.
The airline is also resuming additional European flights from its Philadelphia hub to Naples (Italy), Nice (France) and Copenhagen (Denmark) and extending winter service between Miami and Paris into the summer season.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner delivery delays in recent years have caused American and other airlines to rethink some of their flights and cancel certain international flights that use the long-haul aircraft. American is also in the process of retrofitting some of its older Boeing 777s to accommodate a larger business class cabin.
Znotins said he and his team kept both things in mind when creating next year's map.
“There is obviously a degree of uncertainty in the world of aircraft deliveries and there is a degree of uncertainty in our reconfigurations,” Znotins said. “We are confident that we can fly these routes as advertised, but in an uncertain world it is always good to have a back-up,” such as other hubs serving Athens, in case a passenger needs to be diverted.
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