American Eagle now serves the capital of Illinois from its Texas hub

As American Eagle added Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, the capital of Illinois, to its network, Deb Mahler, American Eagle’s Regional Sales Manager and Mark E. Hanna, the airport’s Executive Director, displayed the cake baked to welcome the new Dallas/Fort Worth route. The two were then joined in cutting the ribbon for the route by Gary Plumber, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce; Tim Farley, Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Joe Overbeck, Managing Director American Eagle Southeast Region.

• American Eagle, American Airlines’ regional brand, also launched new routes on 5 April. Out of eleven new domestic routes, nine were launched from Los Angeles, CA (LAX), the base analysed in this issue’s airline analysis, meaning that these services also provide feed to the airline’s new Shanghai service. All but one of the new routes launched face competition. The exception is the route between Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) and Springfield, IL (SPI), which never previously has been served by any airline. Frank Vala, Springfield Airport Authority Chairman, commented: “We have a great working relationship with American Airlines. And we will continue to support this new service with station staffing and complete ground handling support as we have in recent years.” The most competitive of the new routes is the one between LA and Phoenix, AZ (PHX), on which American faces four other airlines, none of which operates at a lower frequency than the new entrant.

» View all 40+ new airline routes launched this week all across the world.