This latest growth sees Virgin America adapt its business model a little from Dallas as alongside its traditional point-to-point offering it promoting the new route as offering convenient connecting service via Love Field to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport and New York's LaGuardia Airport.
American has confirmed the type will initially will be deployed between its hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport from May 7, 2015. The aircraft will substitute for other equipment on the domestic sector which is served more than 100 times a week, mainly using McDonnell Douglas MD-80 equipment
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, already a global passenger hub for American Airlines, wants to become "a super-global logistics center" as it uses its central geographic location to attract even more cargo airlines, Milton de la Paz, assistant vice president for DFW, tells Routesonline at Routes Americas.
American Airlines will introduce a daily flight on the route from May 7, 2015; its sixth daily flight to Asia from Dallas and its eleventh direct service between the US and Asia. According to MIDT data, an estimated 21,000 bi-directional O&D passengers a year fly between Dallas and Beijing, despite there being no direct flights between the two cities.
As with the smaller 787-8, the US major will be the first North American operator of the larger 787-9 and is expected to receive its first aircraft next month.
American Airlines will offer a three times weekly link between New York and Viracopos from December 1, 2014 and a daily link between Miami and Viracopos from December 2, 2014, subject to government approval, complementing its existing flights from both US destinations to Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport.
Qantas launched flights between Sydney and Dallas in May 2011 and currently utilises a Boeing 747-400ER on the route. The additional range of the A380 over the 747 it replaces will see the return service operate direct to Sydney rather than via Brisbane.
The new routes from across the American Airlines and US Airways hubs, includes service to five destinations in the Midwest, including Bismarck, North Dakota, a new destination for the combined carrier.
Under its revised Dallas schedule, Virgin America will move its existing links to Dallas/Fort Worth International from Los Angeles and San Francisco to the downtown airport from October 13, 2014 and will add multiple daily links with Chicago, New York, Washington DC.
US ultra low-fare carrier, Spirit Airlines, has announced it will expand its domestic to offering into Kansas City with the launch of five new routes this summer with daily flights to Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston and Las Vegas from August 2014.
