What European Routes Will American, Delta, And United Cut? - Live and Let's Fly

With a ban on foreign nationals entering the United States who have visited the Schengen Area over the last 14 days set to go into effect at midnight tonight, U.S. airlines are re-adjusting schedules to Europe in anticipation of depressed demand in the days and weeks ahead.

Here's how the "Big 3" in the USA are paring back schedules.

American Airlines European Route Cuts

American Airlines will c ontinue to operate its European schedule for "up to" seven days from hubs in Dallas, New York, and Miami. European flights from Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Raleigh-Durham will be suspended since these airport (at present) are not approved U.S. gateways. Seasonal service will be delayed until at least early May.

Europe Cuts
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• Continue operating flights from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), New York City (JFK), and Miami (MIA) to Barcelona (BCN), Madrid (MAD) and Paris (CDG) for up to seven days
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• Suspending flights from Charlotte (CLT) and Philadelphia (PHL) to Amsterdam (AMS), Frankfurt (FRA), MAD, Munich (MUC) and Zurich (ZRH) on Friday, March 13, as CLT and PHL are not government-approved gateways
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• Suspending service from Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina (RDU) to London (LHR)
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• Reducing service from JFK, DFW and Chicago (ORD) to LHR
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• Delaying the start of some seasonal routes to early May

Interestingly (conveniently, perhaps?) American will also reduce service to South America:

South America Cuts
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• Suspending service from MIA, JFK, DFW, LAX to Buenos Aires (EZE)
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• Ending service from MIA to Cordoba, Argentina (COR)
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• Suspending service from DFW and LAX to São Paulo (GRU)
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• Suspending service from DFW to Santiago (SCL)

Delta Air Lines European Route Cuts

Through at least Sunday, Delta will continue to operate a "nearly" full schedule of European flights "to ensure eligible customers can return to the United States". After Sunday, Delta will dramatically scale back its service to Europe.

"After Sunday, Delta will fly a significantly reduced U.S.-Europe schedule while monitoring customer demand. Delta will continue to help customers affected by these schedule adjustments, including notifying those whose flights have been impacted by these changes."

Route cuts include service to several non-approved airports.

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• Cincinnati (CVG) - CDG
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• Indianapolis (IND) - CDG
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• Orlando (MCO) - AMS [who knew this even operated?]
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• Portland (PDX) - AMS
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• RDU - CDG
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• Salt Lake City (SLC) -AMS
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• SLC - CDG

At this time, Delta has not made clear the degree to which it will cut European routes to other hubs.

United Airlines European Route Cuts

United Airlines will continue to fly its regular schedule from Europe to the USA through March 19th (next Thursday). After that, it will maintain daily service to six European destinations. I suspect that will be one flight daily, not flights from multiple hubs. In addition, "multiple" Frankfurt and Munich flights will continue, three flights from Dublin, and 18 daily flights from London.

"For those trying to get home from Europe, we have capped fares between the U.S. and Europe. Importantly, we will continue to fly our regular schedule from Europe to the U.S. through March 19. After that, we expect to fly daily to Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Manchester and Edinburgh, maintain multiple flights to Frankfurt and Munich, and operate 18 daily flights to and from London, three to Dublin and less than daily service to Lisbon, all while continuing to monitor demand. We are reviewing our flight and crew schedules to comply with the administration's travel restrictions."

CONCLUSION

I have to say, thus far there are more flights are sticking around than I thought. This is certainly a developing story, but if you are a U.S. citizen returning from Europe, it appears you will not be locked out or forced to enter the U.S. via Canada or Mexico.