Originally Posted by
Infinite1K
If AA hadn’t so drastically cut its international flights out of LAX, I think it could have retained the #2 spot. Not sure which was the dumber move: the transactional/non strategic Smisek offloading T6 gates or Vasu American with their domestic focused scheme.
What was also interesting to me is that for international traffic, Air Canada was the #1 foreign carrier. Based on watching live streams of LAX and seeing all the big heavies flown by Lufthansa, British Airways, Qantas, JAL, ANA, Korean, Asiana, etc. I would have thought they would show up in the rankings. But even with the Korean’s flying double daily A380 it would be ~250,000. Given how dense narrow bodies are these days and coupled with higher frequency and multiple destinations into Canada, Air Canada adds up to being over 4x of the other foreign carriers.
AA was doing ok, not great, in 2019 on LAX-Pacific flying. LAX-HKG was performing better than LAX-PEK/PVG for instance. But they were doing well enough where they nearly launched LAX-ICN. Then the pandemic hit and they cut everything save JV flying to HND/SYD/LHR. Big reason UA has been able to quietly rebuild their LAX international profile is AA stepping back, along with foreign carriers slower to resume their pre-pandemic schedules. AA's decision making in recent years was worse than that bone-headed offloading of Gates 60-63. If UA can eventually get those widebody capable gates at T6 guaranteed for them and AC, when they use a widebody into LAX, that will be a win for UA and I would say much more important than four narrowbody gates at T6. Those widebody gates have access to CBP at T6, so it gives UA opportunity to maximise more international widebody flying ex-LAX.