American Airlines expects this upcoming spring to add its first international long-haul flight at Charlotte Douglas International Airport since 2014.
The nonstop daily flight to Munich, Germany is scheduled to begin at the Charlotte airport — home to American's second-busiest hub — on March 31.
The year-round flight, subject to government approval, will operate on a Airbus A330-200, which typically flies about 247 passengers but can accommodate as many as 406. That aircraft includes lie-flat, aisle-accessible suites with features like noise-canceling headphones and high-end bedding for Flagship Business customers as well as premium economy seats with a pitch (space in between a row of seats, which helps determine its legroom area) of 38 inches.
In a press release on Tuesday announcing the new flight, American Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning Vasu Raja credited Charlotte's "unique location and cost-effective operation" for allowing the carrier to grow its service here.
“Our new flights from Charlotte will provide German customers with access to our second-largest hub and onward connections to more than 120 destinations," he said. "Through our Atlantic Joint Business with British Airways, Iberia and Finnair, we have seen increased demand for service into Munich, and introducing this new flight provides more choices for customers on both side of the Atlantic.”
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, home to the second-largest hub for American Airlines Group Inc., is often touted as a driving force for the region's growth. This photo gallery offers a look at some key facts and figures about CLT. (May 2, 2018)
Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) operates about 90% of flights at Charlotte Douglas. In 2014, it added a second daily flight from CLT to London Heathrow Airport.
The world's largest carrier also said on Tuesday that it'll add eight more flights elsewhere in the U.S. and Europe next summer, including from Philadelphia International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Phoenix International Airport. It will cut Asia routes outs of O'Hare.
Tickets for the new flights are slated to go on sale Aug. 27.
Lufthansa Airlines currently operates a nonstop flight from CLT to Munich.
Charlotte Douglas is in the midst of a 10-year, $2.5 billion series of projects and upgrades known as Destination CLT, scheduled for completion in 2025.
As part of Destination CLT, the airport just wrapped up in July a $200 million expansion of Concourse A that added nine new gates to be used by United, Southwest, JetBlue, Frontier and Air Canada. That opens up additional gate access for American at CLT.
It will also add a fourth parallel runway, which, at 12,000 feet, would make it CLT's longest runway and open up travel to Asia and other parts of the world. The airport expects to begin construction of the runway in 2020 and finish it by 2022.
The Concourse A expansion will open soon at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport as part of the Destination CLT renovations and additions. (July 12, 2018)