American Airlines is expanding its footprint in the capital of the country by launching two new routes.
Beginning June 1, 2023, the airline will offer additional service between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) and Eastern Iowa Airport (CID) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) in Madison, Wisconsin.
As originally observed in Cirium timetables and then verified by a carrier spokeswoman, the seasonally scheduled once-daily flights will run through November 30, 2023.
Each route will be served by a 76-seat regional plane operated by American's wholly-owned subsidiary PSA Airlines for American Eagle.
The only airline operating between Washington and Cedar Rapids will be American Airlines, although it will compete with Delta Air Lines' year-round regional jet service from the nation's capital to Madison.
With the launch of its new service, American will provide locals who want to visit Washington with a second nonstop route to the capital city over the summer.
Additionally, the American hub at DCA will offer numerous one-stop choices for cross-country travel.
"American is thrilled to connect Madison, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., beginning in the summer.
We're excited to give consumers more options to enjoy everything Cedar Rapids and Madison have to offer while giving locals better access to American's extensive global network, a carrier spokeswoman said in a statement.
From its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, and Phoenix, American has thus far run flights to Madison.
The only hubs from which American offers flights to Cedar Rapids are Charlotte, Dallas, Chicago, and Phoenix.
Most intriguingly, American is expanding its route network at DCA, one of the country's busiest airports in terms of capacity.
The Federal Aviation Administration classifies DCA as a Level 3 airport, which means that takeoff and landing permissions are managed through slots, in order to control capacity.
Between 6 a.m. and 11:59 p.m., the FAA has set a limit of 48 operations per hour at DCA.
American did not eliminate any flights or reduce any routes to or from DCA as part of this week's schedule load because each new flight needs a slot pair.
We'll have to wait and watch whether American decides to cancel some of its other routes in order to make room for the two new DCA services.
Whoever benefits most from the increased connection provided by the country's largest airline is anyone traveling to or from Cedar Rapids and Madison.
Earlier in the epidemic, American added new flights from DCA to Orlando and Asheville, North Carolina, both of which are still in service today.
Nearly two years have passed since the launch of the airport's brand-new Concourse E, which transformed the notorious Gate 35X shuttle bus operations into a much better 14-gate concourse.
FACEBOOK