American Airlines Improved London Service

American Airlines recently announced it will soon increase service to London by moving some of its Gatwick flights to Heathrow and will add a new route between New York and London’s Stansted Airport. This will bring the Airlines’ London service to upwards of 20 round trip flights a day between the U.S. and London once the changes are in effect.

The airline plans to begin serving Heathrow from DFW and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. in March of next year. In addition, American will begin its new route between JFK in New York and London’s Stansted Airport on Oct. 28, 2007. A second JFK Stansted flight will begin the following spring. One of American’s daily DFW routes will be redirected to Heathrow, while the second will remain at Gatwick. The airline’s one daily Raleigh/Durham-to-London flight will also switch to Heathrow from Gatwick.

And they’re upgrading. The DFW/London service to both airports will continue to be flown with First, Business and Economy/Coach class Boeing 777 aircraft with 245 seats. Raleigh/Durham service will continue to be flown with Boeing 777 aircraft as well. American’s JFK-Stansted service will be flown with a Business and Economy/Coach Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 221 seats, including 30 Next Generation Business Class seats. Ohhh…next generation.

Once service begins at Stansted, American’s premium passengers will have access to a departure lounge facility at that location. At JFK, American offers its new $1.3 billion terminal, featuring 84 ticketing positions, security checkpoints capable of handling 1,800 travelers per hour, a new U.S. Customs and Immigration facility (which can handle 1,600 customers per hour), two new Admirals Club Lounges (including a soon-to-open new 11,200 square foot Admirals Club in the international concourse), and a new Flagship Lounge for international First Class passengers.

Here are the tentative schedules of American’s new or upgraded service to London (all times local):

Route: Service Begins: Departs: Arrives: Aircraft:
JFK-STN Oct. 28, 2007 8:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. next day Boeing 767-300
STN-JFK Oct. 29, 2007 10:15 a.m. 1:15 p.m. same day Boeing 767-300
DFW-LHR March 29, 2008 5:20 p.m. 8:25 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-DFW March 30, 2008 10:15 a.m. 2:15 p.m. same day Boeing 777
RDU-LHR March 29, 2008 6:25 p.m. 6:55 a.m. next day Boeing 777
LHR-RDU March 30, 2008 11:25 a.m. 2:55 p.m. same day Boeing 777