American slashes international flying by 75 percent

American Airlines will suspend flights to Australia and cut all services to Asia except three weekly Tokyo flights as part of a 75 percent year-over-year reduction in international capacity. The US giant also expects to reduce domestic capacity by 20 percent in April compared to last year and 30 percent in May. The announcement comes after Delta Air Lines said Friday it was cutting capacity by 40 percent, the biggest cuts in its history and surpassing the 9/11 terrorist attack. This included suspending all flights to continental Europe, grounding up to 300 aircraft and delaying plane deliveries. Delta chief executive Ed Bastian told staff the demand fall-off was unlike anything the airline had seen before. American said Sunday the international cuts will take effect March 16 and go through to May 6. READ: Worried passengers swamp airline customer service centers. They will see the US giant operate one daily flight to London from each of  Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami. The three weekly flights to Tokyo Narita will be from DFW. It said it would continue short-haul international flying to destinations such as Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and certain markets in the northern part of South America, as scheduled. The airline’s Sydney-Los Angeles service will be suspended from March 16 and its seasonal service to Auckland will end early. A phased suspension of flights to Europe will see flights from New York, Boston, Chicago and LAX to London Heathrow reduced gradually over the next seven days to re-accommodate passengers and crew. Flights to London Heathrow, Dublin and Manchester from Charlotte, Philadephia and Phoenix end March 15  because they are not approved airports under the COVID-19 regime. Continued suspensions to other parts of Europe include the delayed start of seasonal routes as well as the flights to and from Amsterdam, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich, Paris and Zurich through to at least early May. The airline said these flights could resume later depending on guidance from the US government and customer demand. Flights to South America suspended from March 16 include those from the US ports to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo in Brazil;  Georgetown, Guyana; Santiago, Chile; Bogota, Columbia; Guayaquil and Quito, Ecuador; and Lima, Peru. A number of other services to South America from  Miami have also been suspended. American is also seeking waivers for landing and take-off slots from regulators and said further adjustments could be made if this happens. “American will continue to take care of customers as this situation develops,’’ it said. “The airline has announced its offer to waive change fees for customers who purchased tickets prior to March 15 for travel to Europe, including the United Kingdom or Ireland, through May 31. “Additionally, American’s Reservations team will contact customers whose flights have been canceled directly by email or telephone.” “Customers who booked through a travel agent will be contacted by their agency directly. If a flight is canceled and a customer chooses not to be rebooked, they may request a full refund by visiting aa.com/refunds."