American Airlines adds new Athens route; resumes long-haul flights for summer 2026

According to American Airlines, the two DFW-based routes are intended for global soccer fans traveling to Dallas for FIFA World Cup matches next summer. American last flew between DFW and Zurich in 2007 and has regularly operated winter service between DFW and Buenos Aires. The Miami-Milan route was dropped at the start of the pandemic but complements a recently launched Miami-Rome flight.

The Budapest and Prague services were last offered during the winter seasons of 2018 and 2019 but have not returned since then due to the pandemic. Both will be operated using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners.

Brian Znotins, American's network chief, commented on how market demand drives their decisions: "We're trying not to compare to 2019 anymore... We don't work through a list of what we tried in 2019, and those are not going to be the first things we try in 2026." He added: "We look at our web searches on aa.com and at the top five destinations [that people search to but] that we don't fly to, and people get on aa.com and search for Prague and Budapest."

On competition for these routes, Znotins noted that American will face Delta's nonstop service from New York's JFK airport to Prague but will be alone among U.S. carriers flying directly to Budapest after LOT Polish Airlines exited that market in 2022.

In addition to transatlantic updates, American plans changes for transpacific travelers by increasing premium seating capacity on its Tokyo routes next summer. Flights from Dallas will use a Boeing 777-300ER while Los Angeles-Tokyo service upgrades to a Boeing 777-200. This change represents more than a 45% increase in premium seats compared with summer 2025.

Znotins clarified that American's new premium-heavy Boeing 787-9P variant would primarily serve London initially rather than Tokyo.

Regarding strategy within its transatlantic joint venture with British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair, Znotins said: "Our role is to serve secondary Europe on behalf of the joint venture, and their role is to serve secondary U.S. And this is right in line with that."

Looking ahead, future growth may come with deliveries of Airbus A321XLR jets expected later this year. Znotins stated: "We anticipate having a big A321XLR growth push in 2027. And so, this time next year, I think we'll have even more new routes and new destinations to talk about focused on that airplane."