American Airlines announces expansion of 16 routes by 2026

American Airlines is adding a new state capital to its route map and bolstering its regional service to America’s heartland.

The airline on Thursday unveiled a 16-route expansion that will allow it to launch service from Lincoln, Nebraska, where it will launch three new routes from Lincoln Airport (LNK) in the Cornhusker state.

Elsewhere, American will add (or bring back) summer seasonal service to a number of popular outdoor destinations, from Nantucket, Massachusetts, to Anchorage in Alaska and Bozeman and Kalispell in Montana.

In total, American’s expansion covers 20 American cities. Most of the new routes feature flights operated by the airline’s regional subsidiaries on American Eagle-branded aircraft.

These flights will largely connect smaller U.S. cities with major hubs, additions that will be good news in a lot of markets. which lost a large part of the air service in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

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American’s 16 new or returning routes

Here’s a full rundown of American’s 16-route expansion unveiled Thursday:

American’s Phoenix hub gained more new routes than any other, with seven new flights, predominantly seasonal services.

Chicago O’Hare will have three additional routes, based on Rapid growth in American’s Windy City center in 2025.

And it’s adding two routes at its DFW home base.

Recovering some familiar routes

Now, some of these routes may look familiar to savvy aviation fans or residents of those cities: According to Cirium data, American previously operated a handful of these flights earlier this decade: from Phoenix to Bozeman, Anchorage and Rapid City.

It also briefly flew between Miami and Jackson between 2021 and 2022, and operated O’Hare-to-Erie service before the pandemic.

American doubles its national bet

This expansion is something of a doubling down of the carrier’s bet on domestic connectivity at a time when American has seen its biggest competitors make a splash with headline-grabbing new international routes to destinations like Green Earth, Mongolia and Malta.

American, for its part, has long maintained its emphasis on strong internal connectivity, an area in which, despite other shortcomings, He was the clear leader. in TPG Best Airlines Report released earlier this year.

The airline’s top network planner touted the airline’s strategy at an industry conference earlier this month.

“I find it very exciting to be able to take someone home for their kid’s soccer game,” said Brian Znotins, American’s senior vice president of programming and network planning, at the Dec. 3 Skift Aviation Forum in Fort Worth.

“Having that time advantage in Bentonville, Tucson and Indianapolis is what really drives most of the travel,” Znotins added. “Ultimately, we’re looking to get people where they want to go as efficiently as possible.”

Add Lincoln to that list, which will soon get much-needed air travel to three major American hubs after ending 2025 with commercial service on just two airlines: United Airlines (serving O’Hare and Denver) and Breeze Airways, which flies only to Orlando from LNK.

In a nutshell

American isn’t just planning new regional service in 2026.

The company had already announced flight plans to Budapest and Prague, leading its Long-term plans for 2026. It is also launching New service between New York and Scotland. in it new Airbus A321XLR aircraft will debut this week.

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