Less than 18 months after stopping nonstop service, American Airlines will once again offer direct flights to Los Angeles from Bradley International Airport.
The difference this time, according to Kevin Dillon, executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, is much lower fuel prices and better timing for launching the flight. He said the 2013 service began at the end of summer. This flight starts at the beginning of June, which provides a full summer of traffic to boost the numbers.
He said the decision to end the flight last time was largely based on winter performance. After the decision was made to stop the service, capacity was at 90 percent. Dillon said the flight was evaluated as part of the ongoing merger between U.S. Air and American in 2014. That merger has since completed.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy at a press conference at the Windsor Locks airport said the resumed service should be good for both business and tourism.
The flight was discontinued in Aug. 2014 after one year of service. An airport spokesperson at the time said Los Angeles flights were operating at about 80 percent capacity but American wasn’t getting a high enough yield per seat to make the flight economical.
American Airlines constantly evaluates its network to maximize profitability and match customer demand, and that process found that the Hartford-Los Angeles nonstop should not continue, said American spokeswoman Jenna Arnold in July 2014 when the end of service was announced. “It was a premature decision to withdraw the flight,” Dillon said in an interview.
The American Airlines Bradley to LAX announcement follows the CAA’s recent launch of United Airlines service to Denver and the anticipated introduction of nonstop Aer Lingus service to Dublin, Ireland, in September.
The new service starts June 2 using Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 150-seats. The daily departure from Bradley is scheduled at 7 a.m. with an arrival in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. local time. The inbound flight is scheduled to depart Los Angeles at 9 p.m. and arrive at Bradley at 5:20 a.m. Tickets go on sale on Jan. 23.
Dillon said the airport authority has waived landing fees for two years, as permitted by the FAA. That has an approximate value of approximately $493,000. The authority is also going to support the flight with marketing funds.
Next up on targeted destinations for the airport are San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix, Dillon said. “If we can get those, we are in great shape.”
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