Oneworld member American Airlines will temporarily suspend non-stop service between Philadelphia and Madrid for a few weeks in May and early June 2023. The reason for this decision is by no means a lack of demand, but there are too few Boeing 787s available.

The repeated delivery delays are adversely affecting American Airlines flight operations. Among other things, the carrier announced on Friday that the frequencies had to be reduced on some routes. Affected passengers should be rebooked on other connections. The long-haul route between Philadelphia and Madrid has to be stopped completely for a few weeks because, according to the company, there are too few suitable aircraft available.

Delivery of the new Boeing 787 to airlines has been delayed for the past two years as Boeing had to convince the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it had resolved several production issues on the model. Earlier this month, the FAA approved deliveries to resume. American should therefore receive three Dreamliners this year. American will offer 240 additional flights per month from Europe during the peak season, a 14 percent increase over 2022.

However, it is not entirely certain that this route will be able to be flown again in mid-June 2023, because a company spokesman for American Airlines also said that the current plans are based on the fact that there will be no further delays in the deliveries of the Boeing 787 that has been ordered. If necessary, other routes could also be paused. In any case, American Airlines is not at all happy that the flight schedule has to be cut due to delivery delays. The business between Europe and the USA in particular is considered to be profitable due to high demand. However, they do not want to make use of the theoretical possibility of renting wet-lease devices.