By Taylor Rains
American Airlines To Offer Nonstop Flights to Tel Aviv, Paramaribo From Miami
On Monday, American Airlines announced two new international and two new domestic routes from its base at Miami International Airport. The airline also revealed additional capacity to Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles and cities in Latin America and the Caribbean. The international routes will operate from Miami to Tel Aviv, Israel and Paramaribo, Suriname, making American the only U.S. carrier to offer nonstop service between the cities. Meanwhile, the two new domestic routes will operate to Little Rock, Arkansas and Portland, Maine. All four new routes will begin this summer. The airline explained Miami’s expansion as a “commitment to the community with new and increased service.”
American’s latest network expansion makes it the only US-based carrier to operate flights from Miami to Tel Aviv, Israel and Paramaribo, Suriname. The news follows American’s recently announced service from New York-JFK to Tel Aviv. Both new international routes will begin in summer 2021 and will operate as follows:
- Miami to Tel Aviv: the thrice-weekly flight will start on June 4 using a Boeing 777-200. The outbound flights will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the return will operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
- Miami to Paramaribo: the five-times-weekly flight will start in July using an Airbus A319. The outbound flights will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the return will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
An American 737 MAX 8 jet performing a test flight. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Katie Bailey)
The flight time to Tel Aviv will be 12 hours, and customers can book Flagship Business, Premium Economic or Main Cabin. Meanwhile, the service between Miami and Suriname has been strategically timed for connections in Miami for passengers traveling across the United States.
In addition to American’s two new international routes, the carrier also announced plans to begin two new summer services from Miami to Little Rock, Arkansas and Portland, Maine. According to American, this is the first time the routes have operated in the summer months. Both flights will run once-weekly on Saturdays beginning June 5. All flights can be booked starting Feb. 15.
American’s Vice President of Network Planning, Brian Znotins, said, “American has always been the biggest and best in Miami with more flights to more places than any other carrier, and as demand recovers, we’ll be even bigger and better than ever before. Our new service to Tel Aviv and Paramaribo are the start of further growth in Miami, and as the city grows and expands, American will do the same.”
American has also revealed increased frequency from Miami to Latin America and the Caribbean this summer. The carrier is planning for 16% more capacity to the region as compared to 2019. In the Caribbean, American will begin operating five daily flights to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and four and seven daily flights to Santiago and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, respectively. In addition to service from Miami to Port-au-Prince, the airline has also added a daily flight to the Haitian city from Fort Lauderdale. All flights will begin in April.
Miami will also see an increased capacity to seven Latin American cities, including Bogotá, Medellín and Cali in Colombia; Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador; Lima, Peru; and Santiago, Chile. Specifically, American will double capacity to cities in Colombia and Peru and increase frequencies to Ecuador by more than 50% compared to 2019. Furthermore, flights to Central America will be upped by 24%.
An American Airlines 737-800 taxing at Boston Logan International Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
American’s Vice President of Operations for Miami, Juan Carlos Liscano, commented on the expansion, saying, “Since establishing our Miami hub in 1989, American’s commitment to our community and to our team has not wavered. Throughout the pandemic, we have continued to strengthen our capacity in Miami to match demand in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“With new international destinations launching this year – Tel Aviv and Surname – two new domestic destinations – Little Rock and Portland – and additional flights to key destinations in the Caribbean, we look forward to further deepening our ties to Miami,” Liscano added.
American has added capacity to five destinations from its bases in Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles. From Dallas-Fort Worth, seasonal service to Merida, Mexico and St. Maarten and St. Lucia in the Caribbean will begin June 5 and operate through Aug. 14. Flights to St. Lucia will also run in winter 2021. Furthermore, flights from Charlotte to Samana, Dominican Republic and from Los Angeles to Cancun, Mexico will begin this summer. Flights to Samana will be seasonal from June 5 to Aug. 14.
Taylor Rains graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Aviation Management in 2017. She has worked in the aviation industry for the past five years and has a specialty in safety analytics for part 121 airlines, but she has also worked for a part 135 company in Alaska. Her experience has allowed her to work in many areas of aviation, including airport operations, flight operations, security, inflight, dispatch, and maintenance. Taylor is also an avid traveler and has used her flight benefits to fly on as many airlines and aircraft types as possible. So far, her favorite flight has been aboard KLM’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
