American Airlines expanding U.S., Caribbean flights, to reach new peak of Miami service

American Airlines, the biggest global airline, is adding flights from seven more U.S. destinations to Miami International Airport for the busy winter season, betting on the Magic City’s continued growth.

Two of those cities — Portland, Oregon and Sacramento, California — are getting year-round flight service to Miami.

“We believe in the importance of Miami,” Juan Carlos Liscano, American’s vice president of Miami hub operations, said in an interview with the Herald. “Miami is not a seasonal destination. We have really strong demand annually.”

The American executive Wednesday acknowledged travel to Miami typically peaks in the winter. And so, the airline added five routes for that season when visitors typically come here to escape the snow and ice. They include Buffalo, New York, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lexington, Kentucky, which are slated for weekly flights from November 11 to March 30.

Also, American will fly additional flights to Miami to seven United States’ cities it already serves, including Oklahoma City and Denver. Those are also scheduled for the winter season, from Dec. 20 to April 3.

And the largest airline at Miami airport is adding year-round service to a new and popular Caribbean destination: Governor’s Harbour in the Bahamas. The first flight there from Miami will take off on Feb. 3, 2024. American said it is the only U.S. carrier that will fly nonstop from Miami to Governor’s Harbour. It’ll be twice weekly service on an Embraer E175 aircraft that has about 80 passenger seats.

American’s bevy of flight additions will give it more than 380 peak daily flights from 150 destinations this winter to Miami airport. That’s the most number of flights American has ever flown since Miami became a hub airport for the Fort Worth, Texas-based airline.

Separately, the airline is also temporarily increasing service from Miami to Latin America and the Caribbean during the winter months, with flights to: Baranquila, Colombia; Cartagena, Colombia; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Cancun, Mexico; and Bridgetown, Barbados.

“We’re seeing strong demand into Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia,” Liscano said, noting American is the only airline flying between the U.S. and Tortola.

American now employs over 14,000 workers at Miami airport, its third-largest hub after Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte. Miami is also critical to the airline for cargo transport. It is American’s second-largest cargo hub in the U.S. after Dallas-Fort Worth, handling an average of 340 million pounds of freight and mail each year.

Meanwhile, this week low-cost Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic Airways said it was adding flights from Miami to Paris starting Dec. 12, and from Miami to Berlin beginning Dec. 14, as part of its expanding winter flight schedule.