American Airlines is making several big changes to its network.

The Fort Worth-based airline filed plans over the weekend to launch five new routes, three of them from its hub at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA). The updates were first seen in Cirium’s flight schedules and were later confirmed by a spokesperson for the carrier.

American is also cutting a LaGuardia route, changing its strategy for using widebody aircraft and making several other changes.

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All details can be found below.

American adds three new LaGuardia routes

The highlight of the updates is the addition of three new routes from LaGuardia.

American flies from LGA once a week on Saturdays only to the following destinations:

• Bozeman, Montana
• Calgary, Alberta
• Kalispell, Montana

All new routes start on June 7th and run until August 30th.

American will operate a Boeing 737 MAX 8 on all routes, with 16 first class lie-flat seats, 24 Main Cabin Extra Economy seats and 132 standard economy seats.

At 2,035 miles, the flight from LaGuardia to Kalispell will be LGA’s longest route. According to Cirium schedules, Delta’s LGA to Salt Lake City flight is currently the longest LGA route at 1,982 miles.

These routes are somewhat of a rarity for LaGuardia. That’s because of the airport’s “perimeter rule,” which prohibits airlines from flying to airports further than 1,500 miles away with only two exceptions: flights to Denver and any route operating on Saturdays.

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All three of American’s new routes are longer than 1,500 miles, but the airline is using the Saturday exception to keep the routes working.

(LaGuardia is also slot-bound, meaning airlines need special takeoff and landing permits to operate flights there, but no slots are required for flights on Saturdays.)

While several airlines have long tried to offer Saturday-only flights from LaGuardia, they haven’t necessarily been successful because passengers typically prefer more frequencies on multiple days. (Just look at how Delta and Spirit have reduced their LaGuardia routes.)

This time, however, American is clearly targeting leisure travelers.

“In summer 2025, American will launch five new routes to connect customers to their favorite outdoor destinations. From convenient access to breathtaking glaciers, impressive wildlife and unique natural landscapes, travelers planning their New Year’s resolutions will have more opportunities to enjoy the great outdoors from Nova Scotia to Montana,” an American spokesperson said in a statement.

American is adding two more routes

Continuing the leisure theme, American will also add two additional Saturday-only routes next summer.

The first, Chicago to Halifax, Nova Scotia, will depart June 21 and run until October 4. The second, Dallas/Fort Worth to Quebec, will operate from August 9th to November 1st.

Both routes are served by the Embraer E175 regional jet. In fact, the flight from Dallas will be the longest flight in the US using an E175. (The route is 1,655 miles long and takes about four hours.)

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American cuts 1 LaGuardia route

While American is making exciting leisure expansions across its network, it comes at the expense of one route: the short regional service from LaGuardia to Philadelphia.

The route ends on June 5th.

American confirmed the cut with the following statement:

As part of an ongoing evaluation of our network, American will discontinue service between New York (LGA) and Philadelphia (PHL). Customers will continue to have access to more than 85 destinations from New York, including a new service to outdoor leisure destinations starting in 2025. We are proactively reaching out to affected customers with alternative travel arrangements.

While this short route connects two American hubs, several aviation observers have long considered it to be “slot squatting.”

LaGuardia is a slot-controlled airport, meaning the number of daily departures and arrivals is limited by slots. These slots are typically allocated on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, meaning airlines must use all slots in their portfolio or risk losing them to a competitor.

During peak periods, airlines’ flight schedules are optimized to efficiently use all slots in their portfolio. However, during times of weaker demand, airlines sometimes use cheaper regional flights to “fill slots”. Instead of selling or giving up a valuable slot, airlines fill their schedules with cheaper regional flights during weaker demand seasons to use all their slots.

In this case, it’s possible that American found a better use for its LaGuardia slot than flying to Philly.

The Americans’ delayed wide-body jets

American’s upcoming Boeing 787 Dreamliner deliveries have been delayed again, forcing the airline to adjust its upcoming widebody schedule for the spring 2025 season.

As part of this weekend’s schedule utilization, American will delay its Chicago-Paris restart from April to May. In addition, the airline will reduce service between Miami and Buenos Aires from three to two daily frequencies in April and temporarily suspend service between Miami and Paris in May.

As part of this adjustment, American will not reduce service to any destination.

“Due to ongoing Boeing 787 delivery delays, American is adjusting service on certain routes in spring 2025 to ensure we can reaccommodate customers on affected flights. We will proactively reach out to our affected customers to offer alternative travel.” “We will honor our agreements and remain committed to mitigating the impact of these Boeing delays while continuing to offer a comprehensive global network,” American said in a statement .

As a consolation: American will extend the season for its service between Chicago and Barcelona. The route was originally scheduled to end around Labor Day weekend, but will now operate through October.

American said it was able to accommodate these additional flights “as part of an optimization of our network and fleet.”

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