Skift Take
Given the crisis, it's hard to believe the words "dividend" and "solidly profitable" will ever appear in the same sentence as American Airlines for the next few years.
American Airlines on Thursday forecast a 25 percent drop in its long-haul international summer capacity in 2021 over 2019, as the carrier curtails operations to cope with a slump in travel demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company will also discontinue several international routes that were once popular leisure destinations but are now expected to see decreased demand.
“In an effort to match low demand resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, the airline will realign its network with the goal of improving long-term profitability,” the company said in a statement.
American said it would exit three trans-Atlantic routes from both Charlotte, North Carolina and Philadelphia as well as five underperforming routes from Los Angeles to destinations in Asia and South America.
The company on Wednesday warned it was overstaffed by about 8,000 flight attendants and that it might reduce its workforce to weather the hit from the pandemic.
(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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Tags: coronavirus, coronavirus recovery, international air traffic, U.S. outbound
Photo credit: An American Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft on the tarmac. American Airlines Group will adjust its long-haul international schedule for winter 2020 through summer 2021 to be down 25 percent from 2019 levels. American Airlines