Latest news with #BrianZnotins
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
American Airlines Moving Forward With Major Change Coming in 2026
American Airlines is making a major change that will come in 2026 after high demand from travelers as the carrier extends its presence in Europe and South America with six new routes. American will debut new service to Prague and the only nonstop service from the U.S. to Budapest, Hungary. The airline will also add new routes to popular destinations including Athens, Milan, and Zurich, while expanding service in summer to Buenos Aires. Why American Airlines Made the Change Brian Znotins, American's Senior Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning said a statement revealing customer demand drove the decision. 'Customers continue to tell us that Europe is where they want to go each summer and these new routes make it even easier to cross the Atlantic in 2026," he said. 'We are excited to grow our network to new destinations like Prague and Budapest and offer even more premium travel experiences on our flights to Tokyo.' When Do the New Routes Begin? In May 2026 American plans to launch service from Philadelphia to Budapest and Prague. In the same month, American is also expanding international service to Athens and Milan with daily service between Dallas Forth Worth and Athens coming in May. In March 2026, American will launch daily service from Miami to Milan with a non-stop flight. The airline also announced a "special" for global soccer fans as the carrier launches limited-time service between Dallas Fort Worth and Zurich between May 21 and Aug. 4 2026 and offers expanded summer service for four weeks from Dallas Fort Worth and Miami to Buenos Aires. American wasn't quite done there, though, as the airline announced expanded options to Tokyo. "Travelers who have their eyes on a summer getaway to Asia next year will have more options to enhance their journey with increased premium cabin offerings. Compared to summer 2025, American will increase premium seating capacity to Tokyo from Dallas Fort Worth and Los Angeles by more than 45 percent next summer," the company Airlines Moving Forward With Major Change Coming in 2026 first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 7, 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
NBC News
07-08-2025
- Business
- NBC News
American adds Budapest, Prague and Buenos Aires flights for summer 2026
American Airlines is reviving some of its pre-pandemic destinations like Prague and Budapest, Hungary, as international travel continues to hold up better than domestic demand. Other additions include its first-ever Dallas Fort Worth International flights to Athens, Greece, and year-round nonstop service between Miami and Milan. American is also extending service for next year's World Cup, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Dallas and between Dallas and Zurich, where soccer's governing body, FIFA, is based,. Those flights will run from May 21 to Aug. 4 of next year, a bid for more business travel and sports tourism. Brian Znotins, American's senior vice president of network and schedule planning, told CNBC that the airline saw high numbers of customers from Argentina travel to Doha, Qatar, during the 2022 World Cup and that he expects even more to travel to the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. He also said the airline is expanding its Europe service in a bet that customers would rather connect in a U.S. hub like Dallas or Charlotte, North Carolina. 'We took a fresh look at where the demand hotspots are in Europe and we continue to see strength in Italy and Greece,' Znotins said. 'We continue to see high numbers of travelers connecting in Europe to get to places like Rome and Athens,' so the airline is adding more options from U.S. hubs. With Prague and Budapest service from American's hub at Philadelphia International Airport, he said many customers already fly into one city and out of the other for Danube River cruises and other tours. American's unit revenue for domestic flights in the last quarter fell 6.4% from 2024, while trans-Atlantic revenue rose 5%. Many of American's summer routes were discontinued because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Znotins said the changes weren't just a return to that period. 'We've redesigned the entire airline based on today's demand environment and not some desire to get back to 2019,' he said. 'Everything has changed.' American will use Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners for all the new flights except for Zurich to Dallas, which will be flown by Boeing 777-200s.
CNBC
07-08-2025
- Business
- CNBC
American adds Budapest, Prague and Buenos Aires flights for summer 2026
American Airlines is reviving some of its pre-pandemic destinations like Prague and Budapest, Hungary, as international travel continues to hold up better than domestic demand. Other additions include its first-ever Dallas Fort Worth International flights to Athens, Greece, and year-round nonstop service between Miami and Milan. American is also extending service for next year's World Cup, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Dallas and between Dallas and Zurich, where soccer's governing body, FIFA, is based,. Those flights will run from May 21 to Aug. 4 of next year, a bid for more business travel and sports tourism. Brian Znotins, American's senior vice president of network and schedule planning, told CNBC that the airline saw high numbers of customers from Argentina travel to Doha, Qatar, during the 2022 World Cup and that he expects even more to travel to the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. He also said the airline is expanding its Europe service in a bet that customers would rather connect in a U.S. hub like Dallas or Charlotte, North Carolina. "We took a fresh look at where the demand hotspots are in Europe and we continue to see strength in Italy and Greece," Znotins said. "We continue to see high numbers of travelers connecting in Europe to get to places like Rome and Athens," so the airline is adding more options from U.S. hubs. With Prague and Budapest service from American's hub at Philadelphia International Airport, he said many customers already fly into one city and out of the other for Danube River cruises and other tours. American's unit revenue for domestic flights in the last quarter fell 6.4% from 2024, while trans-Atlantic revenue rose 5%. Many of American's summer routes were discontinued because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Znotins said the changes weren't just a return to that period. "We've redesigned the entire airline based on today's demand environment and not some desire to get back to 2019," he said. "Everything has changed." American will use Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners for all the new flights except for Zurich to Dallas, which will be flown by Boeing 777-200s.
Chicago Tribune
01-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
American Airlines to launch service to 7 new destinations from O'Hare this year
American Airlines will begin flying to seven new destinations from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport later this year, many of them warm-weather tourism spots. Nonstop service to Curacao; St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; St. Maarten; Guatemala City, Guatemala; and San José, Costa Rica, will launch in November and December. The Guatemala City flight will operate year-round, while the others will be seasonal winter flights. The airline is also adding year-round nonstop service to Roanoke, Virginia, and Akron/Canton, Ohio, beginning in September and October. The new flights can be booked beginning Monday. After the pandemic, American prioritized restoring service at its southern hubs, according to Brian Znotins, senior vice president of network planning. That's because travelers in the South resumed flying more quickly, and they frequently sought out trips to warm-weather destinations. But this year, American is adding service to 17 new destinations from O'Hare, including flights to Honolulu, Madrid, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. This summer, the airline says it will offer 25% more seats on flights out of O'Hare than it did last summer. 'Chicago is the third-biggest (metropolitan statistical area) in the country. It's a pretty key business market. We've been very eager to court corporate travelers and business travelers,' Znotins said. 'We're really excited to be growing it back.' In addition to the new flights, American said that this year it will increase existing service from O'Hare to destinations including Aruba; Cancun, Mexico; Grand Cayman; and Nassau, Bahamas. Between the increased service on current routes and the new destinations, the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline says it will double its capacity to warm-weather destinations from O'Hare next winter.
Chicago Tribune
17-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: American Airlines' O'Hare surge is good news for Chicago. Will it last?
American Airlines has added 20% more departures out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport this year as compared with last: some 480 flights versus about 400. The slate includes lovely new destinations, some seasonal, ranging from Hyannis, Massachusetts, to Naples, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, to Idaho Falls, Idaho. But what's probably more important, especially for those who travel for work, is a beefing up of American's departures to the likes of LaGuardia Airport in New York and Los Angeles International. Brian Znotins, American's senior vice president of network planning, made the case to us this week that O'Hare retaining its status as a so-called 'dual hub' airport is a vital weapon in the city's competitive arsenal. His argument is that most cities either suffer the lack of competition that flows from one dominant airline controlling most of the inventory (Dallas and Atlanta being fine examples), or enjoy more competition (Kansas City or St. Louis) but then suffer from having to connect to many business destinations, a time suck that also presents more risk of delays. He's correct, of course. You could even argue that Chicago is the nation's only 'triple hub,' given Southwest's many destinations from Chicago Midway and how that airline recently has retooled its business model away from offering bargain travel and more towards appealing to those willing to pay higher fares. We're close observers of the extensive crew of online aviation watchers and many of them have argued that American's sudden resurgence of interest in Chicago came only because the city of Chicago has acted on a gate reallocation process that shifted some gates to American's rival, United Airlines. In the fall, United will gain six gates and American will lose four. That Department of Aviation process is based on how much airlines have actually flown into and out of O'Hare. Znotins said that this rebuilding has long been in the works and was slow to arrive because travel recovered more quickly in the southern U.S., where American has a hub in Charlotte. That airport charges airlines considerably less to operate than O'Hare, also explaining much of its growth. O'Hare will always have to keep costs in mind; it cannot price itself out of the market in service of the fanciest terminal. Departures matter more than fountains. American's 20% growth in Chicago is really a return to where it was before the pandemic, something Znotins acknowledged to us. We'd noted a lack of convenient departures on American to airports like LaGuardia, where there used to be hourly shuttle service. And some popular flights (for the red-eye averse) like the daytime service to London's Heathrow Airport have gone away this summer. But Znotins says many will return soon, once the airline gets the much-delayed new planes it has ordered. He said you can expect to see more business class seats on international routes soon and also more single-aisle transatlantic flights on the new A321XLR, which could fly nonstop to cities such as Manchester, England, or reclaim that daytime Heathrow departure. But here's the thing about hubs. Half a hub does not cut it when another airline (in Chicago's case, United) has more departures. You either go whole hog, competition-wise, or back off further into the realm of what airlines like to call 'focus cities.' American has not backed off, which is especially helpful for Chicago given all the rumors in the airline industry about United potentially moving its headquarters to Denver, once its facilities under construction near Denver International Airport are ready. That doesn't mean United, which long has branded itself as 'Chicago's hometown airline,' would downplay Chicago or remove flights or even move at all, but it could. Better for Chicago to have its eggs in multiple baskets. Hubs are never guaranteed to be there forever. Just ask St. Louis, Memphis or Pittsburgh, all cities that lost hubs after airline consolidations. Chicago does not want to join that list and that means working well with airlines. Sure, we have a good geographical location for connecting passengers, but St. Louis is a similarly central locale with milder winters. While American has objected to the timing of the gate allocation business at O'Hare, we had the general sense from this frank airline executive that it was mostly happy with how things were going in Chicago, even though the post of commissioner of aviation remains vacant. Clearly, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's runway improvements have mitigated delays. We always see an efficient TSA operation at our big airport, which is not true everywhere. And from various statements, we glean that American seems mostly happy with its renegotiated deal regarding the long-in-gestation airport expansion, now coming on a more cautious timetable. Of course, all of the above also is dependent on the economy. Znotins is the man who decides which American planes fly where in order to maximize profitability, and he'll have to react to changes in the market, whether that comes from a decline in discretionary leisure spending (impacting European vacations) or a decline in international tourism due to a perception that President Donald Trump has rolled up America's welcome mat. Alarm bells are ringing. United's earnings report released Tuesday exceeded profit expectations, but the airline still offered an unusual 'bimodal' forecast, basically saying there was so much uncertainty in the air, no pun intended, it was planning for two entirely different scenarios given the Trump-induced chaos. 'Either the U.S. economy will remain weaker but stable, or the U.S. may enter into a recession,' United announced, covering its bases. Neither United Airlines nor American Airlines, nor indeed Chicago, can control which scenario turns out to be the most accurate. If the U.S. demand for flights drops as the economy shrinks, departures will disappear all over the country and new routes and bigger planes will be put on hold. But Chicago can control where it sits in relation to other U.S. cities and we're glad to see American has recommitted to a robust schedule in service of O'Hare's all-important dual hub. We were worried the opposite was on its way to happening.
