Charlotte Douglas International Airport has landed a nonstop flight to the capital of Hawaii.
American Airlines confirmed to the Charlotte Business Journal on Monday that it will launch seasonal service between Charlotte Douglas and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on May 6. The Charlotte-Honolulu route is scheduled to operate six times a week through June 2. On June 3, that service will become daily through Sept. 7.
It will be the only nonstop flight to Hawaii from the Charlotte airport.
American Airlines will fly the route on a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which has 273 seats. The seating configuration includes 37 lie-flat seats.
The new route is part of several network changes for 2021 that American Airlines said it made over the weekend to match anticipated demand. The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier is cutting three Transatlantic routes to Manchester, England; Prague, Czech Republic; and Reykjavik, Iceland. It will also extend its suspension of service to Venice, Italy, which is now slated to resume in 2022.
American Airlines said it's also added more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean.
In addition to the Charlotte-Honolulu route, American Airlines has added new domestic flights to Fairbanks, Alaska, from both O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and its home base of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
"We have been making adjustments to our schedule since March as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to evaluate our network based on supply and demand in the future," the company's statement read.
American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) and the airline industry as a whole have been badly battered by diminished travel amid the ongoing pandemic. A newly agreed upon $900 billion federal Covid-19 stimulus package would provide an additional $16 billion for airline employee and contractor payroll support. Congress is expected to vote on the measure as early as today.
American Airlines keeps its second-largest hub at Charlotte Douglas, where the carrier accounts for about 90% of air traffic.