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American Airlines brings back Boeing 777s on JFK-Los Angeles route after four years

American Airlines brings back Boeing 777s on JFK-Los Angeles route after four years
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American Airlines Boeing 777 | Official Website

After more than four years, American Airlines will reintroduce its Boeing 777-200ER aircraft on the New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) route starting October 6. The airline last operated widebody service on this route in April 2021, relying since then on the Airbus A321T for transcontinental flights.

The return of the twin-aisle aircraft will initially be limited to one daily roundtrip, with the final scheduled eastbound departure currently set for December 2. This change marks a shift away from the A321T and brings new features to the route: premium economy seating will replace first class, and business class offerings will be upgraded.

American Airlines plans nine daily departures between JFK and Los Angeles during the upcoming winter season. Until recently, only Delta Air Lines was expected to operate widebody aircraft—specifically, eleven daily Boeing 767-300ER flights—on this high-demand domestic route. Now, American’s 273-seat Boeing 777-200ER will add capacity during daytime operations in both directions. The aircraft is configured with 37 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 212 economy seats. Compared to the A321T it replaces, each flight adds an additional 171 seats and increases cargo space.

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Other airlines also serve the New York-Los Angeles market. Alongside American and Delta, carriers such as Frontier and JetBlue operate out of JFK; Newark Liberty International Airport sees service from Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines. With American’s move, there will be a total of sixteen daily widebody departures between JFK/Newark and Los Angeles this winter operated by American, Delta, and United.

A third of all New York City–Los Angeles services this winter will use widebody jets—a figure that has decreased slightly from last November but remains higher than pre-pandemic levels in November 2019. This proportion is similar to what was seen two decades ago due to overall growth in flight frequency.

All scheduled November widebody flights on these routes are now operated by Boeing aircraft. The last regular Airbus operation ended in early July 2025 when Delta retired its A330-900 from these flights; earlier models like the A330-200 and A330-300 were phased out by 2019.

Block times—the period from pushback at departure gate to arrival at destination gate—vary depending on factors such as distance and airport congestion. For example, American’s new JFK departure at 08:00 is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 11:40 local time; comparable departures by Delta or United are planned to arrive slightly earlier.

With these changes in place for winter schedules, passengers traveling between New York City area airports and Los Angeles can expect increased seat availability and updated onboard products as airlines adjust their fleets for one of America’s busiest air corridors.

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