American Expands Transcon Service, Adds Hourly N.Y.-Los Angeles Shuttle Flights, Plans 767-200 Retirement

First-class seating on American’s 767-200 aircraft

American Airlines published the schedule for deploying its new Airbus A321 planes on its transcon routes from New York to both Los Angeles and San Francisco and as well as the dates for the final flights of its widebody Boeing 767-200 fleet on Sunday.

On January 7, 2014, American will launch its new three-class 102-seat Airbus A321 transcon subfleet with the busy New York (JFK)-Los Angles route being the first to see the new planes.  The new planes will run on two of the six daily flights that day but, by the end of the month, all six flights will be on the new Airbuses.

The Dallas-based airline will increase the number of flights to ten in mid February, and will operate A321Ts on eight of the ten daily flights.

Starting in May, American will be operating 13 daily flights in each direction and will move to an hourly shuttle service schedule, with flights departing either at the top (in the morning) and the bottom of the hour later in the day.

The New York-Los Angeles route is the most popular domestic route in the country as well as the most competitive.  Delta and United are compete fiercely for corporate contracts with American. JetBlue and Virgin America also offer non-stop flights on this route.

In March, American will introduce the new three-class aircraft on the New York (JFK)-San Francisco route. The new jets will operate two of four daily flights in each direction.   The number of flights on this route will increase from four to five in June.

With the addition of the Airbus A321 planes, American will retire its Boeing 767-200 fleet.  The aircraft will make final appearances on the New York-San Francisco and New York-Los Angeles runs on March 31, 2014 and May 7, 2014 respectively.  The airline will also end 767-200 service on its New York-Miami route on May 7 as well.  These dates are subject to change based on operational requirements.

American is devoting half of the A321’s cabin to first- and business-class seats.  The first-class cabin will have ten fully lie-flat seats in a 1-1 configuration with an extra-wide aisle.  The overall bed length will be approximately 82.5” with a width of 21”.  The 20 business-class seats will be in a 2-2 configuration. The fully lie-flat seats will extend into a bed of roughly 75-78” with a width of 18.5”.  In addition, there will be 36 seats in the premium economy section and 36 seats in the main cabin.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)