FSDan wrote:

The PHL hub has definitely been rounded out quite a bit with mid-sized domestic markets in the last year (OKC, OMA, DSM, MSN, PNS, etc.), but there are maybe a few more good options for AA.

bridge29 wrote:

In addition, PHL will be a 787 base in 2020 - so we'll very likely see some 787s on international routes ex-PHL.

soflaflyer wrote:

bridge29 wrote:

In addition, PHL will be a 787 base in 2020 - so we'll very likely see some 787s on international routes ex-PHL.

Was this announced by AA?

TWFlyGuy wrote:

washingtonflyer wrote:

A fundamental question in my mind is - how many spare widebodies does AA have for international service? Folks discuss expansion plans and dreams, but does AA have the lift to accomplish this? Seems to me that if AA was planning on expanding, a prudent course of action would be to 1) not retire the A330-300s so fast, or 2) find some second hand A330-200s or 772s on the market.

Based on the fleet plan posted in the AA network thread (see below), it seems they may not have the spares to add more. They'll actually be decreasing their widebody fleet next year.

2017 YE 2018 YE 2019 YE 2020
B763 24 24 18 5
B772 47 47 47 47
B773 20 20 20 20
B788 20 20 20 32
B789 14 20 22 22
A332 15 15 15 15
A333 9 9 9 9
149 155 151 150

Bigant0408 wrote:

You made excellent points. I’ve always thought of San Jose being a next destination. Leakage to Newark and JFK doesn’t help PHL either but west coast is def something AA must boost up

MalcolmInTheMoM wrote:

Bigant0408 wrote:

You made excellent points. I’ve always thought of San Jose being a next destination. Leakage to Newark and JFK doesn’t help PHL either but west coast is def something AA must boost up

Thanks! Yes they really need to improve over here. It's kind of embarrassing to think that AA, the airline that swallowed OC and PS (by way of US) only has 5 intra-California flights now and they're all out of LAX! But that's an issue separate from PHL entirely so sorry for the off-topic moment.

PHL, from what I hear, has been a true win for AA's network and it's good to see them growing and adding new domestic routes. Strengthening their California transcon presence can only help to elevate the airport's value as a New York alternative. People on here tend to focus on the European flights but many of them wouldn't exist without connecting traffic from other U.S. cities. Hopefully they either retire or refurbish their 763s based there to have a hard product on par with nearby competing TATL hubs at EWR and JFK. You guys should almost be hoping for that more than new routes haha.

[Edit] It looks like they'll be getting rid of those 763s sooner than I thought. Thank God!

MalcolmInTheMoM wrote:

Bigant0408 wrote:

You made excellent points. I’ve always thought of San Jose being a next destination. Leakage to Newark and JFK doesn’t help PHL either but west coast is def something AA must boost up

Thanks! Yes they really need to improve over here. It's kind of embarrassing to think that AA, the airline that swallowed OC and PS (by way of US) only has 5 intra-California flights now and they're all out of LAX! But that's an issue separate from PHL entirely so sorry for the off-topic moment.

jplatts wrote:

WN could bring back PHL-LAX and PHL-OAK nonstop service in order to better compete against AS in California. Additionally, WN also could bring back PHL-AUS and PHL-SAT nonstop service, and WN could also add PHL-MCI and PHL-MKE nonstop service.

LH658 wrote:

PHL to AMM Royal Jordanian.
PHL to MAD Iberia
PHL - Tokyo JAL/AA
PHL- HEL Finnair/AA
PHL - GRU/GIG Latam/AA
PHL - CHINA CX/AA/CZ
PHL - IST TK

Bigant0408 wrote:

Domestically I also thinK JetBlue could expand to San Juan and Orlando and possibly LAX, Alaska Air to San Diego and San Jose. I would mention Frontier but they are always adding and removing routes every time I turn around. I also feel PHL might get OAK service at some point with Southwest especially for connections to Hawaii.

FA9295 wrote:

Convert PHL-PDX to year-round/daily service. Not sure why it's still seasonal. Both AS and AA have had great LF's on that route...

TheFlyGuy wrote:

Hello all! Longtime reader, first time poster here. Here are my thoughts on some decent candidates for domestic route expansion at PHL:

SBN - Granted AA just resumed service to FWA and might want to give that route time to mature.
TOL/FNT/LAN - One of the three. I believe (might be wrong) that the only one of these airports with service to the NE is LAN to DCA on AA.
PIA or MLI - As with the suggestions above, would be a continuation of recent AA expansion from PHL to the Midwest.
AVL
LIT or XNA
TUL &/or ICT - See SBN above. AA just started service to OKC this summer and might want to allow that route time to mature.

As other posters have already stated, PHL service to the West Coast is somewhat weak and expansion here could help boost connections to Europe and secondary NE markets. PHL actually has non-stop service to more European markets than it does domestic markets west of the Great Plains. IMHO, year-round service to PDX as well as launching new service SJC are the best expansion candidates and possibly SNA as a runner-up. Long shots possibilities I'd say are ABQ, TUS and perhaps COS.

zakuivcustom wrote:

acentauri wrote:

YYZflyboy wrote:

There's a lot of one-stop possibilities: AA via ORD/JFK/LAX/DFW/BOS, and most customers can also connect via Europe (LHR, DUB, FRA, MAD, FCO, MXP) for CX and JL routes (makes sense from a landing perspective - most flights from Europe land early in the morning in Asia, which is perfect for businesspeople). There's also QR via Doha.

AA doesn't fly BOS-PEK. ORD-PEK has been canceled effective in late October. PHL-PEK is only 500 nm further than LAX-PEK and the same distance as DFW-PEK, so distance shouldn't be a factor. OTOH, unless AA can siphon acceptable O&D yields from the NJ/NY region and somewhat compromise DFW connecting traffic, PHL may not work any better that Chicago. OTOH (2), since Parker tried PHL-PEK once (authority), but didn't have an acceptable frame available, he may just go back for seconds.

Not sure why anyone flying to East Asia would fly through Europe. It's quicker to just hop onto one of the gajilion buses (or train) to NYC and catch one of the gajillion flights to East Asia at NYC. And it's not like connecting in Europe is cheaper, either.

PHL-East Asia in general would relied on O&D traffic. The business base at Philly, at least those with tie to APAC region, is not quite as large as Boston or even DC (Hence why CX picked IAD first) either. There are VFR traffic, but those are not necessarily high yield.

All I'll say is, when even HU hasn't bite (or they may have, but didn't have the money or rights) on PHL yet, it's hard to imagine JL or CX does.

Bigant0408 wrote:

TheFlyGuy wrote:

Hello all! Longtime reader, first time poster here. Here are my thoughts on some decent candidates for domestic route expansion at PHL:

SBN - Granted AA just resumed service to FWA and might want to give that route time to mature.
TOL/FNT/LAN - One of the three. I believe (might be wrong) that the only one of these airports with service to the NE is LAN to DCA on AA.
PIA or MLI - As with the suggestions above, would be a continuation of recent AA expansion from PHL to the Midwest.
AVL
LIT or XNA
TUL &/or ICT - See SBN above. AA just started service to OKC this summer and might want to allow that route time to mature.

As other posters have already stated, PHL service to the West Coast is somewhat weak and expansion here could help boost connections to Europe and secondary NE markets. PHL actually has non-stop service to more European markets than it does domestic markets west of the Great Plains. IMHO, year-round service to PDX as well as launching new service SJC are the best expansion candidates and possibly SNA as a runner-up. Long shots possibilities I'd say are ABQ, TUS and perhaps COS.

Good suggestion for routes. I heard AA routes from SBN are doing really well that they might consider expanding to new routes hopefully PHL comes to mind. You're right one thing that the recent routes already added this summer need to mature first. Just wonder if they have enough aircraft availability. West coast expansion definitely is a must for sure. Like I mentioned in a preview post I can also see OAK service from Southwest mainly when they start Hawaii service

TheFlyGuy wrote:

Bigant0408 wrote:

TheFlyGuy wrote:

Hello all! Longtime reader, first time poster here. Here are my thoughts on some decent candidates for domestic route expansion at PHL:

SBN - Granted AA just resumed service to FWA and might want to give that route time to mature.
TOL/FNT/LAN - One of the three. I believe (might be wrong) that the only one of these airports with service to the NE is LAN to DCA on AA.
PIA or MLI - As with the suggestions above, would be a continuation of recent AA expansion from PHL to the Midwest.
AVL
LIT or XNA
TUL &/or ICT - See SBN above. AA just started service to OKC this summer and might want to allow that route time to mature.

As other posters have already stated, PHL service to the West Coast is somewhat weak and expansion here could help boost connections to Europe and secondary NE markets. PHL actually has non-stop service to more European markets than it does domestic markets west of the Great Plains. IMHO, year-round service to PDX as well as launching new service SJC are the best expansion candidates and possibly SNA as a runner-up. Long shots possibilities I'd say are ABQ, TUS and perhaps COS.

Good suggestion for routes. I heard AA routes from SBN are doing really well that they might consider expanding to new routes hopefully PHL comes to mind. You're right one thing that the recent routes already added this summer need to mature first. Just wonder if they have enough aircraft availability. West coast expansion definitely is a must for sure. Like I mentioned in a preview post I can also see OAK service from Southwest mainly when they start Hawaii service

I agree that OAK service on WN could be in the near future. WN is resuming service to HOU from PHL and I see OAK as the most likely next route addition from PHL.

GSP psgr wrote:

So I saw that PHL is planning on building a new commuter terminal on the other side of 17-35, which seems strange given that F isn't all that old to start with; to me it only makes sense if you then tore F down and replaced it with a new Concourse or two (a complete replacement of the AA hub gates at B/C would make a fair amount of sense, but they're also throwing money at those). Maybe a teardown of Concourse D?

Also, is there a solution in the offing for the overcrowding of the International gates on A? I would assume the purchase of International Plaza might hint at a new A-Far West complex, replacing or allowing for a drastic refurb of A-East.

I didn’t hear about a new commuter terminal possibly being built. Yea does seem like F has enough gates but that’s something to keep and eye one. It makes sense for if they built a new terminal for international expansion. The Plaza I believe is to expand cargo services to make it a bigger hub outside of UPS

usairways85 wrote:

Any new terminals have been de-prioritized and I'd put them at 10+ years out. I think there might be an effort to expand A-west, but that again is probably several years out.

usairways85 wrote:

They've done quite a bit to freshen up the existing terminals. I noticed a stark improvement in the UA/DL area of the D hammerhead. Similar to what they've done at the UA terminals in EWR/IAH.

xijiayu wrote:

AA will commence PHL - EDI service next year from 2 April to 26 October using B757:

https://www.edinburghairport.com/about- ... iladelphia

I wonder how this service will affect existing PHL - GLA service?

xijiayu wrote:

AA will commence PHL - EDI service next year from 2 April to 26 October using B757:

https://www.edinburghairport.com/about- ... iladelphia

I wonder how this service will affect existing PHL - GLA service?

xijiayu wrote:

AA will commence PHL - EDI service next year from 2 April to 26 October using B757:

https://www.edinburghairport.com/about- ... iladelphia

I wonder how this service will affect existing PHL - GLA service?

jeffh747 wrote:

What’s gonna happen with the UPS operation when the new 9R is built? That runway looks like it’s going to be built right over the existing property where UPS operates out of.