American Airlines ends Charlotte route to tropical vacation spot, reduces other flights
American Airlines said it is dropping a direct flight from Charlotte to a tropical vacation destination.
The main carrier at Charlotte Douglas International Airport will no longer offer a once-weekly direct flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, from Charlotte, American Airlines confirmed Monday. The change takes effect Jan. 10.
The route was discontinued because it “wasn’t meeting expectations,” company spokesman Brian Metham told The Charlotte Observer. The airline is contacting affected customers to offer other options, he said.
The change comes as American Airlines is making broader adjustments to schedules at Charlotte and other airports, as it reevaluates route performance and faces ongoing staff shortages. The airline expects its full-year capacity to be down approximately 7.5% to 9.5% from 2019.
In August, the airline confirmed to the Observer it had cut about 1,000 flights from its original fall schedule. It trimmed 527 departures from the schedule in September and 548 in October.
American Airline recently removed more than 14,000 domestic flights from its December schedule, the airline confirmed. The Dallas Business Journal reported that included 1,130 originating flights in Charlotte. The airline is based in Fort Worth, Texas.
American Airlines celebrated its 80-year anniversary of U.S. flights to Mexico this month. It first flight to Mexico City took off from Dallas in 1942.
Other routes dropped at Charlotte airport
Puerto Vallarta isn’t the only destination that American has dropped from its Charlotte offerings in recent months.
The airline discontinued regional service from CLT to Flint, Michigan, on Sept. 7. It’s also dropping a route to Alexandria, Louisiana, this fall and said it would suspend service to two other cities in October: El Paso, Texas, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
But it also added seasonal service to San Jose, California, beginning Nov. 3.
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "American Airlines ends Charlotte route to tropical vacation spot, reduces other flights."
