American Airlines and JetBlue Airways have just announced a series of new routes as part of their new strategic alliance for the Northeast. Although I’ll talk about these new routes in a separate post, I’d like to dedicate a post to what I find the most interesting ad.
American will fly A321Ts between JFK and SNA
Beginning June 2, 2021, American Airlines will launch daily nonstop flights between New York (JFK) and Orange County (SNA). We still don’t know the exact times or frequencies – I would assume a daily flight, but we’ll find out more in the coming days, as these flights go on sale.
The most surprising part of this new route is the aircraft that American is going to use – American plans to fly an A321T between New York and Orange County. For those unfamiliar with this subfoto of A321s, these are the planes that have historically been operated exclusively from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
These planes are unique in that they have only 102 seats and include four seating options:
- There are 10 fully flat first class reverse herringbone seats with direct access to the aisle, in a 1-1 configuration
- There are 20 fully flat seats in business class, in a 2 to 2 configuration
- There are 72 seats in economy class, 36 of which in the Extra Main Cabin, with extra legroom
American Airlines first class A321T
Seeing the American programmed A321Ts in this market is surprising and not surprising:
- On the one hand, this has historically been reserved for transcon markets that are known to have a high premium demand, especially among business travelers and the entertainment public.
- Although Orange County is quite wealthy, it does not exactly have the demand for entertainment or business from other markets; I expected to see an A321T between New York and Burbank before something like that
American Airlines A321T Business Class
Can we see more American A321T routes?
American has a significant surplus of A321Ts and it looks like it will continue to be the case:
- This is especially true during the pandemic, given the complete lack of demand between New York and California
- In general, it was rumored that the Americans reconfigured the A321Ts to a more standard configuration, although there was nothing concrete about it.
With the new American & JetBlue Northeast partnership, it looks like we can expect a reduction in American service between New York and Los Angeles:
- American and JetBlue will operate 14 combined daily flights between the New York area (JFK and EWR) and Los Angeles (LAX); that flying will be divided equally between the two airlines
- Previously, American operated up to a dozen flights a day on the market using its own A321Ts
American and JetBlue will split flights between JFK and LAX
Needless to say, American will have more A321Ts in the future than it needs, assuming that American and JetBlue are actually planning to decrease the transcon service as it was revealed.
Only time will tell whether American will choose to launch more A321T routes or whether some of these planes will simply be reconfigured.
Result
American Airlines will launch daily A321T flights between New York and Orange County starting in the summer of 2021. This will only be the third route to have this aircraft regularly scheduled.
This ad definitely caught me off guard – although Orange County is a premium leisure market, it still looks surprising.
We will have to see what the future holds for American’s A321Ts – the airline will reconfigure A321Ts, fly these planes in more markets, or eventually increase JFK service to LAX and SFO.
Are you surprised to see the A321Ts flying between JFK and SNA?