American Airlines Cuts International Flights From Seattle

Image: American Airlines plane.  (Photo Credit: American Airlines Media)
Image: American Airlines plane. (Photo Credit: American Airlines Media)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 12:05 PM ET, Tue November 21, 2023

American Airlines has apparently thrown in the towel on turning Seattle into an international gateway.

American has cut all international flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. That includes a route from Seattle to London and a highly coveted slot at Heathrow Airport.

American’s partner, British Airways, will now fly the route solo from Seattle. In a statement, American said:

“As part of a continuous evaluation of our network, American Airlines has made the difficult decision to discontinue service between Seattle (SEA) and London (LHR). We plan to operate 25 daily flights to LHR next summer from 10 destinations across the U.S. Our partner, British Airways, continues to operate service between SEA and LHR. We're proactively reaching out to impacted to customers to offer alternate travel arrangements.”

American will add a second flight to London from Miami to compensate for the loss of the route to Seattle.

Cutting all international flights is a tacit admission that Seattle did not work as a global hub as American had hoped it would.

American will continue to utilize its hubs in Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Charlotte, among others, as part of its hub and spoke system. That includes more flights to its headquarters and main hub in Dallas/Fort Worth. 

American is still hoping to avoid a strike by its flight attendants.


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