American doubles down on Chicago and Phoenix in 16-route expansion

Even though winter officially begins this weekend, American Airlines is already looking ahead to summer.

The Fort Worth-based carrier announced Thursday that it will add 16 domestic routes, including service to an all-new destination for the airline, as well as a mix of seasonal resumptions that the airline is marketing as “new” service.

While some of these routes are genuinely fresh additions, others — like Boston to Nantucket — are already available for sale. (American also recently filed plans to cut its New York–Toronto route, though that move went unmentioned in the announcement.)

Still, the expansion underscores American’s continued focus on building connectivity through its hubs, particularly in the ultra-competitive Chicago market, as well as in Phoenix.

3 Chicago routes, including a brand-new destination

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD) is one of the biggest winners in this expansion.

American will add three new routes from ORD in 2026:

• Erie, Pennsylvania
• Lincoln, Nebraska
• Tri-Cities, Tennessee

Service to Erie and Tri-Cities will begin May 21, 2026, while Lincoln service launches June 4, 2026.

Lincoln represents American’s 240th domestic destination and marks the carrier’s return to the Nebraska airport after a 22-year absence, according to Cirium data. (American will also serve Lincoln from Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix.)

The other two Chicago routes are also resumptions. American last flew from ORD to Erie in summer 2019, while Tri-Cities was previously served between July 2010 and January 2012, according to Cirium data.

That said, the bigger story is American’s ongoing arms race with United at O’Hare, where the two carriers are locked in a neck-and-neck fight for dominance.

United has leaned aggressively into Chicago in recent years, adding routes, growing frequencies, and even securing additional gates at the airport through the city’s reallocation process.

American, for its part, has been working to increase its relevance. Just weeks after United was awarded additional gate access, American moved to acquire two gates from Spirit Airlines, reinforcing its commitment to the hub.

In my mind, these new routes are less about splashy growth and more about network defense. They help further feed the hub, bolster connectivity, and ensure American remains competitive for both local Chicago travelers and connecting passengers.

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“All destinations served from ORD this spring will return next year, making American the only hub carrier at the airport to achieve this feat,” the airline said in its press release, adding that it will offer more than 25 additional destinations from Chicago next spring compared to 2025.

7 routes from Phoenix

In addition to Chicago, Phoenix also features prominently in the expansion, with seven new routes planned from the desert hub.

This includes new service to Abilene and McAllen in Texas, as well as leisure-focused routes to Anchorage, Bozeman, Kalispell, and Rapid City. American will also add seasonal winter service from Phoenix to Lincoln.

Several of these routes, however, aren’t entirely new. Flights from Phoenix to Anchorage and Jackson, Mississippi, have already been filed in Cirium schedules, while Bozeman was last operated in summer 2021. Rapid City previously ran from 2019 through 2022 before being cut.

The common thread across the Phoenix additions is leisure demand, particularly access to national parks and other outdoor-focused destinations.

Appealing to leisure travelers is a strategy American (and its competitors) have leaned into heavily in the post-pandemic era.

2 non-hub routes

American’s announcement includes two surprising non-hub routes, both from Boston.

The airline will add daily, year-round service from Boston to Madison, Wisconsin, starting June 18, 2026. It will also commence summer-seasonal service between Boston and Nantucket on the same date, running through Sept. 8, 2026.

Notably, the Boston–Nantucket route has already been filed in Cirium schedules, making this more of a confirmation than a surprise reveal.

That said, as a hub-and-spoke carrier, it’s relatively rare for American to add non-hub routes.

And in Boston — a market dominated by Delta and JetBlue — American remains a distant third, but one it likely wants to defend with this targeted leisure-oriented flying.

Full list of American’s 16 new routes

Here’s the complete rundown of the 16 domestic routes American will add in 2026.

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