Aug. 28--American Airlines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. announced Monday they're adding new routes -- American to two European cities and Southwest on a highly competitive West Coast route.
Fort Worth-based American, which has been ramping up its service out of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said it will start service May 1 from there to Milan, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain.
In addition, American said it would add a second flight between Kennedy and London's Stansted Airport on April 7. It had previously announced plans to launch its first flight between Kennedy and Stansted on Oct. 28.
"These new routes further demonstrate American's commitment to New York as an important international gateway," said Dan Garton, American's executive vice president of marketing.
American currently does not fly to either Milan or Barcelona, instead offering connecting flights through Oneworld alliance partners British Airways PLC and Iberia.
Dallas-based Southwest said it would begin flying the San Francisco-Los Angeles route Nov. 4, joining a long list of entrenched competitors on that route, including American, United Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Alaska Airlines Inc. or their regional partners, as well as new carrier Virgin America Inc.
Southwest said it would offer $39 introductory one-way fares between Los Angeles and San Francisco for travel through Dec. 14.
"Southwest has the Bay covered from all three major airports, and we are thrilled to offer Southwest's low fares, super-friendly employees and frequent flights to the destinations our customers want," said Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly.
Southwest said it initially would offer eight round trips a day. That compares with 18 round trips offered by United, seven round trips by American, six by ExpressJet Inc. for Delta, six by Virgin America, four by SkyWest Airlines Inc. for United, and one by Alaska, according to information on those airlines' online reservation systems.
Southwest originally began serving San Francisco International in 1982 but cited high costs when it left that airport in March 2001.
It relaunched its San Francisco service Sunday with flights to Chicago, San Diego and Las Vegas.
AMR shares dropped 69 cents Monday to $23.99, and Southwest shares fell 29 cents to $15.23, on a day when most U.S. airline shares declined.
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