American Airlines announces expansion of 16 routes in 2026

American Airlines is adding a new state capital to its route map and beefing up regional service to America’s heartland.

The airline on Thursday unveiled a 16-route expansion plan that will launch service from Lincoln, Nebraska, where it will launch three new routes from Lincoln Airport (LNK) in the Cornhusker State.

Elsewhere, American is adding (or resuming) summer seasonal flights to a number of popular outdoor destinations — from Nantucket, Massachusetts, to Anchorage, Alaska, and Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana.

American Airlines’ expansion covers a total of 20 U.S. cities. Most of the new routes are operated by the airline’s regional subsidiaries using American Eagle-branded aircraft.

The flights will primarily connect smaller U.S. cities and larger hubs — an increase that would be good news for the many markets that have lost significant air service in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Please know before booking: American Airlines’ basic economy class will no longer earn miles or loyalty points

American Airlines 16 new or returning routes

Here’s the full rundown of American Airlines’ 16-route expansion plan announced Thursday:

American Airlines’ Phoenix hub has more new routes than anywhere else, with seven new flights — mostly seasonal.

In 2025, Chicago O’Hare Airport will add three new routes based on the rapid growth of American Airlines’ Windy City hub.

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And, it is adding two routes from its DFW headquarters.

Bring back some familiar routes

Now, some of these routes may sound familiar to savvy aviation followers or residents of these cities: American Airlines operated a few of these flights — Phoenix to Bozeman, Anchorage and Rapid City — in the early 2000s, according to Cirium data.

It will also fly briefly between Miami and Jackson in 2021-2022 and operated O’Hare to Erie flights before the pandemic.

The United States increases domestic investment

The expansion is arguably the airline’s doubling down on domestic connections at a time when American has seen its top rivals make a splash with splashy new international routes to destinations such as Greenland, Mongolia and Malta.

American Airlines, for its part, has long emphasized strong domestic connectivity — and despite other shortcomings, the airline was a clear leader in this area in TPG’s Best Airline report released earlier this year.

The airline’s top network planner touted the airline’s strategy at an industry conference earlier this month.

“I think it’s exciting when I can take someone home to watch my kid’s football game,” Brian Znotins, American’s senior vice president of network and schedule planning, said Dec. 3 at the Skift Aviation Forum in Fort Worth.

“Bentonville, Tucson and Indianapolis have the schedule advantage and that’s really what drives most of the travel,” Znotins added. “Ultimately, we want to get people to where they want to be as efficiently as possible.”

Add Lincoln Air to that list, and it will soon get much-needed air cargo service with only two airlines available through the end of 2025: United (serving O’Hare and Denver) and Breeze (only flying to Orlando from LNK).

bottom line

American Airlines isn’t just planning to launch new regional services in 2026.

The airline has already announced plans for flights to Budapest and Prague, which are the focus of its long-haul plans for 2026. It is also launching a new service between New York and Scotland using the new Airbus A321XLR jet, which debuted this week.

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