American launches 6 new European routes for 2026

Even if you may still be figuring out what your plans for Labor Day weekend, American Airlines is already thinking about where you are going to fly next summer.

The Fort Worth-based airline has just announced a massive long-distance expansion for the summer of 2026, including what the airline calls six “new” routes.

The truth is that one of these six routes is technically “new” – but, it’s exciting to see the long-distance muscles of the United States surpass proven transatlantic destinations like London and Paris.

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You will find all the details below.

1 New Transatlantic Flight

The only truly “new” flight in the United States will connect the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Athens, Greece starting May 21, 2026. The airline will deploy Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on this daily flight.

By next summer, the United States will fly to the five most US gateways of American airlines to Athens International Airport (ATH).

It would be interesting to see the performance of this new route, especially since it is the longest and furthest of any other American gateway to Athens, including Charlotte, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. But the Fort Dallas Worth International Airport (DFW) is the largest hub in the United States, so this new route may actually allow some other flights to Athens to take over some traffic.

Still, Greece is a popular destination for Americans, so the airline may bet that it won’t have too much trouble filling 234 seats.

5. Restore long-distance routes

Five other routes announced by the United States on Thursday used to operate. They include:

• DFW to Ezeiza International Airport (Eze) in Buenos Aires, serving from May 21 to August 3
• DFW to Zurich Airport (ZRH), service running from May 21 to August 4
• Miami International Airport (MIA) to Milan Malpsa Airport (MXP), year-round service begins on March 29
• Starting from May 21
• PHL to VáclavHavel Airport Prague (PRG), summer seasonal service begins on May 21

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According to Americans, the two flights from DFW were designed for “global football fans.” The airline’s readings are aimed at fans heading to the FIFA World Cup and will hold nine games in Dallas next summer.

The last time the United States flew from DFW to 2007, it has been flying from DFW to Eze in winter.

Meanwhile, the airline flew from MIA to MXP in 2020, but flew at the beginning of the pandemic. The service complements recent flights from MIA to Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO), which took off earlier this summer.

Finally, the buds and PRG routes were last flying in winter in 2018 and 2019. They have not returned since the pandemic, and this time the airline will deploy Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on both services.

While frequent American pilots in the U.S. may prefer a more truly “new” route next summer, Brian Znotins, the airline’s head of network, told me: “We are working hard not to compare to 2019 anymore…we don’t try lists in 2019, which are not the first things we’ve tried in 2026.”

Instead, he focused on market demand, which pointed to Budapest and Prague. “We view our web searches and top five destinations on AA.com [that people search to but] We don’t fly around, people are looking for Prague and Budapest on AA.com. ” he explained.

The United States will compete with Delta’s uninterrupted services, from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to PRG, and enjoy the U.S. monopoly of serving Budapest. The last operator on this route is Polish Airlines, which left the market in 2022.

Of course, assuming Delta or Manchester United will not be inconsistent with Americans’ plans to fly to Budapest – given that we have not yet understood where the other two Big Three airlines intend to expand next summer.

Up to Tokyo

The Americans also provided some news for the Trans-Pacific flyer: Next summer, airlines will use more premium aircraft to rise to Tokyo services. This includes flying the Boeing 777-300er on the route from Dallas to Tokyo, and the Boeing 777-200 from Los Angeles to Tokyo.

Both flights are currently operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with premium seating capabilities on U.S. routes to more than 45% higher than summer 2025.

Note that the airline does not intend to fly its new premium Boeing 787-9p variant on these routes, which offers the highest quality seat density in the U.S. long-distance fleet. According to Znotins, this will be deployed primarily to London.

Bottom line

The long-distance routes in the U.S. are certainly exciting next summer, especially since they include some European cities like Budapest and Prague.

It’s great to offer travelers more uninterrupted options, but since both routes will operate from PHL, it’s still necessary to connect a large number of aircraft in Philadelphia to get on these flights. (In contrast, operating routes from New York will provide larger catchments to fill these indispensable places.)

Still, I think it’s much easier to connect in Philadelphia than to make connections in London or Madrid, which is what the American flyer currently needs to do to get to these destinations.

Znotins even illustrates it as part of the airline networking strategy because it relates to the transatlantic joint ventures it has participated with British Airways, Iberia and Finnair. “Our role is to serve Central Europe on behalf of the joint ventures, and their role is to serve the United States, which is in line with that,” he said.

All in all, Americans feel more about summer 2026. This is not a significant expansion we have seen from Manchester United (and to a lesser extent Delta) over the years. Instead, this expansion feels like the U.S. is staked in security – adding more weather to its network without turning toes that are all over the Atlantic into more obscure areas, something I hope United and Delta may do again next year.

But the era when the United States added new long-distance routes to smaller European cities is not too far away. This is thanks to the upcoming Airbus A321XLR jet, which is expected to fly for Americans later this year.

“We expect a big boost to A321XLR growth in 2027. So this time next year, I think we will have more new routes and new destinations to focus on this aircraft,” Znotins said.

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