The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Major airline abandons 3 key cities as passengers face shrinking flight choices
After all three routes failed to meet performance expectations, American Airlines has dropped nonstop flights to Santa Maria, Tijuana and Doha this year.
American Airlines has reduced its U.S. and international network this year by dropping three destinations, affecting travelers’ options for certain routes.
The carrier ceased service to Santa Maria, California; Tijuana, Mexico; and Doha, Qatar, with data from Cirium cited by Simple Flying documenting the withdrawals. The Santa Maria route had been operated under American Eagle through a SkyWest partnership, while Tijuana’s route was noted as a nonstop U.S. service.
In Santa Maria, Allegiant Air remains the only commercial airline serving the airport, offering some Las Vegas service, after American’s departure. For the Middle East route, Qatar Airways has taken over the Philadelphia-to-Doha corridor, reestablishing nonstop service between those two cities following American’s exit.
American Airlines attributed the Santa Maria decision to not meeting performance expectations, and noted that SkyWest informed the airline of the discontinuation as of May 7. The Philadelphia-to-Doha route was permanently cut in June as part of an optimization of the network and fleet after prior suspensions due to regional hostilities.
The airline’s removal of the Tijuana route occurred in August, with the company saying the route again did not meet performance expectations and that service had not achieved optimal deployment of aircraft. Fox News Digital reached out for further comment, and industry observers describe route cancellations as a common outcome of economic realities in airline operations.