American Airlines is adding service to more Caribbean points from Los Angeles, Charlotte, Chicago and Dallas, and is restoring direct flights between New York and Caracas.
Most of the new routes are aimed at leisure travelers, although one, from Los Angeles to Mexico City, has a lot of business-travel potential. The New York JFK-Caracas route restores a previous link that was cut last year in a currency dispute with Venezuela. Tickets for most of the new routes go on sale next week; flights start in September and on.
From Los Angeles, AA will be flying to Montego Bay, Jamaica; Mexico City and Mazatlan, Mexico. From Charlotte, there will be flights to Curacao and Puerto Plata, DR. Chicago will add flights to Punta Cana, DR, and Dallas-Fort Worth will get flights to Punta Cana and to Quito, Ecuador.
Until the dispute with Venezuela, American had flown 48 flights a week to Caracas from JFK, Miami, Dallas and San Juan. Delta, United and many European airlines also cut service. The dispute involved airlines being forced to exchange funds earned in Venezuelan bolivars into dollars or Euros at very unrealistic rates. Since then, AA has run 10 flights a week from Miami; now five from JFK will be added. It is not clear to what extent the currency situation has changed.
Photo: American Airlines
