American Airlines is signaling a fresh phase of long haul ambition as it evaluates an expanded portfolio of global routes that would deepen its presence across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Network planners are studying new or enhanced links connecting major United States hubs with destinations in Spain, Germany, France, Morocco, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, South Africa, Argentina, and Portugal, building on a multiyear push to reinforce the carrier’s position in transatlantic and southbound markets.
Network Strategy Enters a New Phase
In recent seasons, American has already unveiled waves of new European flights, from Copenhagen and Naples to Nice and Edinburgh, while upgrading year round service to cities such as Lisbon, Madrid, and Rome. Those moves underscore a deliberate strategy to concentrate long haul flying in markets where strong leisure demand can be paired with deep domestic feed through hubs like Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Chicago. The latest planning round takes that logic further, with a focus on broadening its footprint in key economies including Germany and France while probing under served leisure and VFR markets in Southern Europe and North Africa.
American’s most recent published schedules for 2024 and 2025 already show the airline leaning heavily into Spain and Portugal, with new year round links and seasonal expansions from both Dallas Fort Worth and Philadelphia. At the same time, the carrier has used its European growth to support a wider global refresh that includes larger aircraft and more premium seats on transpacific routes, evidence that its long haul strategy is being managed as one interconnected portfolio rather than as isolated regional efforts.
Against that backdrop, new route opportunities in countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Argentina are now under more serious review. These markets align with macro trends that favor long haul leisure travel, diaspora traffic, and events driven demand in the lead up to major global tournaments in North America later this decade. While not all prospective routes will make it from draft schedule to the departure board, the breadth of destinations under consideration illustrates how aggressively American is looking to redeploy widebody capacity as its fleet renewal gathers pace.
Spain and Portugal Remain at the Heart of Transatlantic Growth
Spain has emerged as a cornerstone of American’s European expansion. The carrier has already positioned itself as the largest United States airline serving Barcelona and has steadily strengthened its Madrid network, including new flights from Chicago and extended service from hubs in the Southeast and Northeast. Building on that momentum, American is examining further options that could deepen connectivity into Spanish markets with strong summer peaks, such as additional links to Madrid from secondary U.S. cities or longer operating seasons on existing Barcelona and Madrid services.
Any next wave of growth into Spain is likely to lean heavily on Philadelphia and Dallas Fort Worth. Philadelphia has become a central transatlantic gateway, offering dozens of domestic feed points and a broad European schedule that allows the airline to test new markets with lower risk. Dallas Fort Worth, by contrast, delivers vast national connectivity and high yielding traffic, making it attractive for routes that can sustain year round demand or support premium cabins even in shoulder seasons. Together, those hubs give American significant flexibility to refine its Spanish portfolio as bookings and economic trends evolve.
Portugal is also a major part of this equation. American has already expanded Lisbon to year round service and benefitted from surging U.S. leisure interest in Portuguese cities and coastal regions. As the airline evaluates new global routes, additional Portuguese options are believed to be on the table, most likely in the form of strengthened Lisbon frequencies or adjusted seasonal patterns that capture peak summer flows from the East Coast and central United States. Close coordination with alliance and interline partners in Iberia and beyond will be critical as American weighs whether incremental capacity can be supported across the full calendar year.
Germany, France, and Benelux Under the Microscope
While much of American’s recent headline growth has focused on Southern Europe, the airline is also carefully reassessing its position in core economies such as Germany and France. These countries combine extensive corporate ties with resilient leisure interest, particularly to Paris and major German commercial centers. For the moment, American’s French strategy has centered on Paris Charles de Gaulle, where the airline has extended Miami service into the summer, illustrating the strength of North American demand for the French capital and its surrounding regions.
Growth in Germany is naturally more complex, given the already intense competition from European network airlines and joint venture partners. Instead of a sudden flurry of new German cities, American is more likely to refine its existing gateways and look at how best to balance its own flying with connections provided through alliance partners. That may still leave room for targeted new service from an established hub, particularly if economic indicators and forward bookings into the late 2020s support additional nonstop demand between U.S. business centers and German industrial regions.
Smaller but strategically important markets such as Belgium and Austria are also in focus. Brussels and Vienna play outsized roles as political and economic capitals within Europe, and both see strong connecting traffic flows between North America and Central and Eastern Europe. So far American has been content to rely on partners for much of this demand, but as the airline evaluates longer term growth scenarios, direct U.S. links to Belgium or Austria from a central hub like Philadelphia or Chicago are under discussion. Any move in that direction would likely be calibrated carefully to complement, not cannibalize, existing alliance networks in these regions.
Ireland’s Resurgence and Deeper Atlantic Connectivity
Ireland is a market where American has already demonstrated a willingness to experiment with both new and earlier seasonal services, particularly from Charlotte and Dallas Fort Worth. Those moves have allowed the airline to tap into robust leisure demand, significant U.S. corporate ties, and a sizable Irish diaspora across North America. Looking ahead, Ireland remains firmly in the strategic picture as American weighs how to use its widebody fleet to offer more one stop options into regional U.S. cities that might not otherwise sustain direct European flights.
By coordinating schedules between its Irish routes and domestic network, American can grow transatlantic traffic without necessarily adding large numbers of new destinations. Cities like Dublin and, to a lesser extent, Shannon function as gateways through which U.S. customers can reach not only Ireland but also onward connections to the United Kingdom and continental Europe via partner airlines. As the carrier studies new global routes, the question is less whether Ireland will remain in the portfolio, and more how aggressively American will lean into additional capacity or extended operating seasons on its existing Irish services.
The dynamic also runs in the opposite direction, with Irish travelers benefiting from enhanced access to the United States beyond major coastal cities. Extra frequencies or revised departure times from Dublin could open up more convenient one stop connections into the American Midwest, mountain states, and southern metros that have limited or no direct European service. This two way flow makes Ireland an attractive laboratory for the kind of network tweaks American is now considering more broadly across Europe and Africa.
Morocco and North Africa Emerge as Next Frontier
North Africa, led by Morocco, has risen rapidly on the radar of U.S. travelers in recent years, driven by a mix of cultural appeal, competitive pricing, and a rapidly improving tourism infrastructure. For American, Morocco represents a logical extension of its existing Mediterranean strategy. Direct service from an East Coast hub to Moroccan cities such as Casablanca or Marrakech would allow the airline to tap into both point to point tourism flows and onward connections deeper into Africa and the Middle East through local partners.
Any move into Morocco would likely start with a single trunk route, scheduled to align with strong seasonal peaks and designed to feed into American’s domestic network both north and south along the U.S. East Coast. The airline would need to carefully analyze aircraft gauge, schedule timing, and cargo potential, given that belly freight remains an important revenue contributor on long haul flights to emerging markets. Security considerations, regulatory approvals, and coordination with Moroccan aviation authorities would also shape the final contours of any U.S. to Morocco launch.
Beyond Morocco itself, a successful entry into North Africa could open the door to additional routes on the continent over the medium term. American has historically been cautious in Africa, preferring to rely on alliance links out of European hubs. The current round of network planning, however, reflects a broader willingness to revisit long standing assumptions about where U.S. demand can support nonstop service. Morocco, with its combination of tourism draw and geographic positioning, stands out as a plausible first step in that direction.
South Africa and Argentina Signal a Bolder Southbound Push
South Africa and Argentina represent two of the most ambitious markets under consideration as American weighs its next steps in long haul expansion. Both countries have deep cultural and economic ties with the United States but present operational challenges related to distance, seasonality, and currency volatility. American has experience managing complex South American markets through its extensive network in Brazil, Chile, and other regional hubs, and is now exploring how best to calibrate potential South Africa and Argentina routes in light of that history.
Argentina already features in the airline’s future plans through planned seasonal expansions to Buenos Aires tied to major events later this decade. These flights, centered on Dallas Fort Worth and Miami, are intended to handle both traditional leisure and business traffic as well as event driven surges in demand. The performance of those services will play a crucial role in determining whether American commits to more sustained growth in Argentina, including possible year round frequencies or wider connectivity deeper into the country via local partners.
South Africa, with its long sectors and competitive landscape, is a more complex proposition. Any new nonstop flight from a U.S. hub to Johannesburg or Cape Town would require careful balancing of premium cabin demand, cargo potential, and aircraft availability. American’s ongoing widebody fleet investments, including cabin upgrades and the introduction of more premium seating across longer haul aircraft, are giving planners more flexibility in modeling such routes. While no firm announcements have been made, South Africa remains a prominent candidate as American refines its long range map through the late 2020s.
Operational Considerations and Fleet Strategy
Behind every potential new route lies a matrix of operational questions. American’s recent schedule announcements show a preference for deploying Boeing 787s and 777s on long haul routes that require a combination of fuel efficiency, range, and premium capacity. Summer 2025 and 2026 plans already assign these aircraft types to new and expanded services into Europe and South America, suggesting that any additional flying into Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Morocco, South Africa, or Argentina will draw from the same core widebody pool.
Fleet flexibility is particularly important as American moves through a period of cabin modernization and reconfiguration. The airline is steadily increasing the number of premium seats on key long haul aircraft, a shift that better aligns its product with demand on high yield routes while still maintaining enough economy capacity to capture leisure and VFR traffic. Network planners reviewing prospective new markets must therefore consider not only where demand exists, but what mix of cabin classes and schedules will maximize revenue in each direction of travel.
Operational resilience also plays a role. New long haul markets must be integrated into a network that can absorb disruptions from weather, air traffic constraints, and maintenance events. Hubs like Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, and Philadelphia offer multiple daily long haul departures and varied aircraft types, giving American more options for reaccommodation and recovery. That redundancy makes them natural candidates for future launches across the airline’s targeted list of countries, including new points in Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
What Travelers Can Expect in the Years Ahead
For travelers, American’s evaluation of new global routes across Spain, Germany, France, Morocco, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, South Africa, Argentina, and Portugal points to a future with more nonstop options and more competition on long haul journeys. Even before specific routes are announced, recent schedules provide a clear picture of the airline’s direction: more European cities connected to U.S. hubs, extended operating seasons on popular transatlantic flights, and renewed attention to southbound links into Latin America and, potentially, Africa.
Passengers can expect continued emphasis on connecting opportunities. Many of the routes under review are designed to be fed by American’s broad domestic network, enabling travelers from mid sized and smaller cities in the United States to reach an expanding list of overseas destinations with a single connection. As new routes are confirmed and filed in the months and years ahead, this connectivity will be a key selling point, especially for travelers who value time and convenience over complex itineraries.
Ultimately, the breadth of markets now being studied suggests that American Airlines sees long haul flying as a central pillar of its growth strategy through the end of the decade. While aviation economics and regulatory approvals will shape exactly which routes move forward, the direction of travel is clear: a larger transatlantic footprint, exploratory steps into North Africa and potentially Southern Africa, and deeper links to South America anchored by Argentina. For long haul travelers, that will translate into a wider range of choices and a denser web of global connections as the airline’s next generation of routes takes shape.