American Airlines to Expand Operations at SeaTac

An American 787 at Everett Washington during Boeing Family Day. (Photo courtesy of Jamsheed Motafram)

Recently, American Airlines just announced that they are going to restructure their international network in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Dallas-based airline is winding down their international operations at LAX and expanding their Trans-Pacific network at SeaTac and Dallas Ft. Worth instead. The reason as to why American is slowing down their LAX operations is because American wants to focus on the domestic market at LAX and even before COVID-19 hit, American was already losing money on routes to destinations to Hong Kong or Shanghai. With that being said, here are the routes that will be added to SeaTac in the near future:

• Seattle (SEA) - Bangalore (BLR) (starting October 2020)

• Seattle (SEA) - London Heathrow (LHR) (starting Summer 2021)

• Seattle (SEA) - Shanghai (awaiting government approval)

And these are the routes that American will cut from LAX:

• Los Angeles (LAX) - Bejing (PEK)

• Los Angeles (LAX) - Hong Kong (HKG)

• Los Angeles (LAX) - Buenos Aires (EZE)

• Los Angeles (LAX) - Sao Pao (GRU)

Why Seattle?

An American 737 MAX at Boeing Field. (Photo courtesy of Jamsheed Motafram)

But why would American decide to expand their international network in Seattle? First off, according to American's VP of Network and Schedule Planning Brian Znotins, he states that, "even before COVID-19 hit, their international traffic out of LAX was already a drag on profitability and they (American) needed to cut these routes off while expanding their domestic market at LAX." In addition, given that Bangalore, India is a big tech hub and due in part to the growth of companies such as Microsoft and Amazon with the latter being in the top 3 when it comes to business-travel markets. Even the location of Seattle is a better option for American as opposed to LAX. The reason being so is that the LAX to Asia market is already over served by Asian airlines and it didn't make sense for American to compete with them. Not to mention that Seattle is 774 miles closer to Shanghai than Los Angeles. But the biggest x-factor to American Airlines expansion in Seattle is their partnership with Alaska.

The Alaska Factor

An Alaska 737NG takes off from Boeing Field. (Photo courtesy of Jamsheed Motafram)

The biggest reason that American Airlines is adding flights to Seattle is due in part to their already existing partnership with Seattle-based Alaska Airlines, who recently planned to join the Oneworld alliance by summer of 2021. Given that Alaska already has an extensive flight network out of Seattle, American saw this as an opportunity to lure Alaska flyers to fly internationally on American or other Oneworld partners. For example let's say five years from now, you are a frequent flier on Alaska and you want to book a flight to London. You'll be more likely to utilize your miles for an upgrade on an American or British Airways flight. On the other hand, this greatly benefits Alaska Airlines due in part to Delta increasing their prescence at SeaTac thus forcing Alaska's hand by deepening their connection with American Airlines by joining Oneworld to give Alaska's frequent fliers more opportunities to fly globally. We shall see if this gamble pays off for both airlines in the future.

Conclusion

An Alaska Embraer E175 takes off from Paine Field. (Photo courtesy of Jamsheed Motafram)

With American Airlines going forward with expanding their operations in the Jet City, the future of aviation in the Pacific Northwest is still bright despite the COVID-19 pandemic. But what do you guys think? Will American's gamble on Seattle benefit both American and Alaska Airlines? Let me know in the comments down below and keep looking to the sky!