The Seattle to Bangalore route has been pushed back again, and there is no planned launch date. The route is back on the drawing board for a future point. Let's talk about what we know about this development.
American Airlines is expanding in Seattle.
When American Airlines announced in February 2020 that they would open an international hub in Seattle, most of us were surprised. American has announced plans to fly from Seattle to Bangalore, London, and Shanghai, but all three routes were originally scheduled to launch in 2021.
As of March 2021, the Seattle-based airline joined the oneworld alliance, as American started cooperating more closely with Alaska. I am curious to see how American's Seattle expansion works out.
Alaska joined the oneworld alliance.
The growth out of Seattle has been delayed due to the Pandemic. The Seattle to Bangalore flight was supposed to launch in October 2020. It was delayed until October 2021, then November 2021, then January 2022, then March 2022, and now an undisclosed date in the future.
The Seattle to Bangalore flight will be delayed even more according to a company memo. I expect inventory to be pulled during the next schedule update because the airline hasn't yet removed the flight from its schedule.
The route is being blamed for the delayed deliveries of the Boeing 787 but the reality is that if the route made sense, American would move forward with it. The airline announced a new route from New York to Doha.
There is a shortage of wide body aircraft.
The flight details for Seattle to Bangalore.
The Seattle to Bangalore service is expected to launch sometime in the future, but here is what the schedule looks like.
The plane left Seattle at 5:55PM and arrived in Bangalore at 11:05PM.
AA181 Bangalore to Seattle arrives at 6AM.
Seattle to Bangalore route is American.
The flight would cover a distance of 8,112 miles, and the plan was for it to be blocked at 16hr40min to India and 16hr45min from India. The route was planned to use a Boeing 787-9 with 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 234 economy seats.
The 787-9 business class is American.
I am not sure about this route launching.
I thought it was odd when American first announced it. American had an advantage in the market because no other airline flew nonstop between the US and Bangalore. Quite a bit has changed in the meantime.
The launch of United between San Francisco and Bangalore was supposed to take place in May 2021, but has been delayed until May 2022.
Air India will fly between San Francisco and Bangalore up to 2x weekly.
It seems like American was betting that United wouldn't be able to fly from San Francisco to Bangalore due to the distance. United figured out a way to modify its 787-9s to make this route possible.
United will launch a route.
Why am I not sure about American's chances of success here? The demand between Bangalore and the United States was pre-pandemic.
San Francisco had over 200 travelers per day, accounting for 17.7% of the traffic.
Roughly 50 passengers per day were accounted for by Seattle.
American relies on a lot of connecting traffic and expected it to get a lot of demand from San Francisco. The San Francisco to Bangalore route was announced by United.
I don't see where the demand is supposed to come from to make American's flight work, even though it seems like it has a high chance of being successful.
Amazon and Microsoft have a large presence in India, and I understand that. The math doesn't add up unless all the passengers were in paid business class on the flight from Seattle to Bangalore. It could be quite a while until we see passenger numbers for routes like this again, because of the slow pace at which international business travel is recovering.
Will American ever launch its Seattle to Bangalore route?
Will the American abandon its international hub idea?
I wonder if American is backpedaling on its plan to turn Seattle into an international gateway. I don't know one way or the other, but I have a few thoughts.
With Bangalore and Shanghai flights being indefinitely delayed, American has only one long haul service out of Seattle, which is to London.
I think we will see a New York to Mumbai route before we see a Seattle to Bangalore route.
The plan was for Seattle to be a transpacific gateway, and travel to Asia is still very difficult.
It will probably be several years before American has as many wide body aircraft as it needs, so one has to wonder how Seattle growth will be prioritized.
Historically American has been unable to commit to a plan for an extended period of time, so maybe this isn't any different.
The international growth of American is no longer in New York.
It is anyone's guess when the new flight from Seattle to Bangalore will launch. If the route would be profitable enough then this would have been a priority.
I am not surprised to see this delay, and I wonder if the route will ever launch. The demand for the San Francisco to Bangalore route is questionable because United is planning to launch it.
Do you think American will launch flights in Bangalore?
Ben is the founder of OMAAT.
