American Airlines expects to fly more than 12.7 million passengers and operate more than 118,000 flights over the upcoming Christmas and New Year holiday period. The holiday travel period will begin on December 18th, 2024, and run through January 6th, 2025.
American Airlines expects December 27th, 2024, and December 20th, 2024, to be the busiest and second-busiest travel days, respectively. The peak of the carrier’s holiday operation will be at 12:40 CT (18:40 UTC) on December 22nd when a total of 1,074 mainline and regional aircraft are scheduled to be in the air.
Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock
During the recent 2024 Thanksgiving holiday, American Airlines displayed a robust operational performance, canceling the fewest mainline flights out of all the major US carriers. In fact, there were four days over the Thanksgiving period when the carrier did not cancel any mainline flights at all.
One key element of minimizing operational disruption is to be prepared for inclement weather. At many airports across its global network, American Airlines has already ensured that its de-icing teams are ready to spring into action when needed.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
In a statement, American Airlines’ Chief Operating Officer, David Seymour, said,
“American delivered industry-leading operational performance over Thanksgiving, and I’d like to thank our team members for their hard work in safely caring for our customers. We look forward to continuing that momentum as millions once again take to the skies for holiday gatherings and winter vacations.”
Did you know…?
American Airlines took the opportunity to share some fun facts about upcoming holiday operations and its performance throughout 2024:
- Over the Christmas and New Year holiday period, American Airlines will serve an estimated 6.6 million bags of pretzels.
- The carrier’s fleet of mainline and regional aircraft will collectively travel more than 102 million miles during the holiday period – the equivalent of nearly 1.1 trillion candy canes laid end-to-end.
- During the same period last year, American Airlines passengers watched almost 20 million minutes of holiday-themed movies and TV shows while onboard.
- Throughout 2024, American Airlines’ 50 worldwide lounges have served more than 594,000 espressos and more than 420,000 glasses of sparkling wine.
- More than 3 million amenity kits were distributed to passengers on the carrier’s long-haul services.
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2024 in review
2024 has been a busy year for American Airlines, with the carrier operating more than 2.1 million flights, offering more than 275 million seats. American Airlines currently operates an extensive worldwide route network, covering over 350 destinations across more than 60 countries. The longest routes operated by American Airlines are:
|
From |
To |
Length |
|---|---|---|
|
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) |
Brisbane (BNE) |
8,303 miles |
|
Los Angeles (LAX) |
Sydney (SYD) |
7,488 miles |
|
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) |
Auckland (AKL) |
7,440 miles |
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Looking ahead to 2025, American Airlines has an exciting year in store. The oneworld member airline plans to launch more than 20 new routes from various hubs across the US, with significant transatlantic expansion, including:
- Charlotte (CLT) – Athens (ATH)
- Chicago (ORD) – Madrid (MAD)
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) – Venice (VCE)
- Philadelphia (PHL) – Milan (MXP).
Photo: Greg K__ca | Shutterstock
The latest data from ch-aviation shows that American Airlines’ mainline fleet is currently made up of a staggering 994 aircraft, with an average age of 13.4 years old. This includes 82 Airbus A321neos, 47 Boeing 777-200ERs, and 37 Boeing 787-8s.
Just like the carrier’s route network, its fleet is also expected to grow considerably in 2025 and beyond, with the arrival of 50 Airbus A321XLRs, 115 Boeing 737 MAX 10s, and 30 Boeing 787-9s. The Airbus A321XLRs, in particular, will be game-changing for the airline in terms of reach on long, thin routes, such as transatlantic services to secondary cities.
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