JFK-London Stansted, ORD-Buenos Aires get the ax

When American Airlines last year announced its plans to begin flying between New York JFK and London Stansted, it said the route would be especially convenient for business travelers because of Stansted’s express train link to the London financial district. American had planned to add a second daily flight on the JFK-Stansted route this summer. However, now that its only competitors into Stansted – all-business-class carriers MAXjet and Eos Airlines – have gone out of business, American is pulling the plug on the route, which it began flying last October. American has issued what it calls the “first round” of schedule cutbacks in its new plan for fuel-related capacity reductions, and the JFK-London Stansted route is among them; it will end on July 2. Among other cutbacks, on September 3 American will discontinue its new Chicago O’Hare-Buenos Aires route, which just started last December; and on January 5 it will drop Chicago-Honolulu service. From September 3-January 5, American said, the ORD-HNL flights will be cut back to operate only on “peak demand days.” Also on September 3, American will end its Boston-San Diego flights, and will start to implement a “restructuring of American and American Eagle schedules at San Juan, Puerto Rico, although it provided no details. However, the trade newspaper Travel Weekly is reporting that American plans to discontinue its daily non-stop services to San Juan from Baltimore/Washington, Ft. Lauderdale, Newark, Orlando, Los Angeles and Washington Dulles.