American Airlines, this year, launched seven long-haul services from its hub at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). Three more services will also be launched, and together, these services will make up the ten longest services (in terms of great-circle distance) the carrier operates from ORD. From these, seven services are flights to Europe, one is across the Pacific, and the remaining two are domestic operations.
The longest of these services is the flight that the airline will operate across the Pacific Ocean. However, this will only return next year, which will see the carrier operating a 6,200-mile service.
American’s Longest Service From Chicago Returns In March 2027
American Airlines, in the past 24 hours, has announced that it will be resuming nonstop services from Chicago to Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT), on March 27, 2027. According to data published by AeroRoutes, the airline last served this route over six years ago, in December 2019. Coming in at a great-circle distance of 6,274 miles (10,097 km), this will become the airline’s longest route from its hub at ORD next year.
The airline is scheduled to operate this service on a daily basis, using its fleet of Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. Furthermore, the airline has stated that this service will be operated under the Pacific Joint Business Agreement, which the airline has with its fellow oneworld partner, Japan Airlines. The following will be the itineraries the airline will operate:
Furthermore, if the market conditions are to remain the same, American Airlines’ new service will be in direct competition with All Nippon Airways (ANA). The carrier already operates nonstop services on this route. Much as in the case of American Airlines and Japan Airlines, the service operated by ANA serves the carrier itself, but also provides connectivity on this route for its US-based partner, United Airlines, which also maintains a strong hub at ORD.
Chicago O’Hare remains one of the busiest airports in the US, and is a highly contested hub for American Airlines and United Airlines. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that American Airlines has been increasing its operations and network connectivity from ORD. Data published by Cirium, an aviation data analytics company, indicates that the carrier has already launched seven long-haul services from Chicago this year, with more on the way.
The aforementioned ORD – NRT route will resume next March; meanwhile, the airline’s services to Honolulu and Kahului, in Hawaii, will be launched later this year. According to the airline’s booking engine, the carrier is scheduled to resume Honolulu services on October 25, and the services to Kahului will commence on December 17. The following interactive map shows details of the services launched and services to be launched:
Due to the competitive nature of the operations at the hub, it is worth noting that United already operates services on several of these routes. This would indicate that American Airlines will be in direct competition with United in these markets.
The two legacy carriers both bring a lot to the table.
Chicago is the busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft movements, and it being home to two of the largest airlines in the world makes the competition all the more serious. While historic data suggests United was the larger carrier at the hub, in recent years, American’s unmistakable growth at ORD has positioned it to compete toe-to-toe with United.
American has been increasing its capacity and operations from the hub, while also investing billions in modernizing its facilities at ORD. The carrier has also increased its access to gates by utilizing strategies such as purchasing allocated gates from Spirit Airlines.
Gate access is very important at the airport, and is usually allocated to airlines based on their past utilization of facilities. Recently, American Airlines received allocations for three additional gates, while United lost access to three of its gates. Furthermore, the competition is only set to get fiercer as the airport is currently undergoing an expansion, which will see the airport receive 19 additional satellite gates, as part of Concourse C, by 2028.
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