American Airlines Reducing Caribbean Flights

American Airlines has been the major carrier serving Caribbean destinations from the United States for quite some time. The airline offered more frequent service in more destinations than any other airline. In a blow to Caribbean travel, American Airlines recently announced they will reduce daily flights from their San Juan, Puerto Rico hub, as well as from gateway cities in the U.S. If you’re planning to travel to the Caribbean this fall, you may want to have a look at your travel arrangements.

American Airlines will reduce flights into San Juan from 38 daily flights to 18 daily flights, effective September 3, 2008. At that time, American will cease to offer nonstop, daily service to San Juan from Baltimore/Washington, Fort Lauderdale, Newark, Orlando, Los Angeles and Washington Dulles. The airline will continue to offer nonstop service to San Juan from Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York JFK, Philadelphia and Hartford. In the Caribbean, American will stop service to Antigua, St. Maarten and Santo Domingo from San Juan.

American Eagle will also reduce its Caribbean schedule from 55 to 33 daily departures out of San Juan on September 3, 2008. The regional carrier will eliminate daily flights from San Juan to Aruba as well as to Samana, Dominican Republic. Both destinations will continue to be served daily from Miami.

American Eagle will continue to serve San Juan with 33 daily flights to the following destinations: Anguilla; Antigua; Barbados; Bonaire; Canouan; Curacao; Dominica; Martinique; La Romana, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Santiago and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Guadeloupe; Nevis; St. Croix; St. Kitts; St. Lucia; St. Marten; St. Thomas; Tortola; and Trinidad.

No cuts will be made in service between Miami and San Juan, and specific schedules will be published shortly, said Peter Bowler. American Eagle’s CEO. In addition, American Eagle, the regional carrier for American Airlines, also plans to move some of its 66-seat Super ATR-72 turboprops to Dallas and will ground its fleet of 34-seat Saab 340s.