American was able to achieve this strong performance despite weather in many parts of the country and a significant volume of non-scheduled, non-air carrier operations that resulted in increased air traffic control delays.
FORT WORTH, TEXAS – American Airlines has delivered another strong operational performance for its customers during the winter holiday travel period, canceling the fewest flights among the major carriers while operating significantly more on-time flights than last year’s holiday period.
“When customers purchase tickets on American, they place their trust in us to deliver a safe and reliable operation, and I’m proud to say that thanks to the hard work of our team members, we delivered on that commitment – despite holiday headwinds, including some challenging weather and increased air traffic control congestion,” said David Seymour, American’s Chief Operating Officer. “We appreciate our federal partners – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — for their critical roles in making this holiday travel period a success.”
American’s winter holiday operational highlights (through Jan. 1)
- American has welcomed nearly 7.8 million customers across more than 71,000 flights since Dec. 20. The period concludes Jan. 8.
- To date, American has led its major competitors in completion factor, canceling the fewest number of flights. American didn’t cancel a single mainline flight for the first six days of this travel period (with nine total days without a mainline cancellation) and just 16 mainline flights have been canceled this holiday period.
- American’s on-time departure and arrival performance both improved by around 15% compared to 2022’s holiday period.
- American’s continued investments and focus on baggage handling across our network are paying off, with the key metric that measures mishandled baggage improving 66% compared to last year’s holiday period.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
