San Juan non-stops to MCO, FLL, BWI, EWR, LAX, and IAD end in September.

Been wondering which A300 flights are being cut (and how many a/c going out of service). MCO would be one route. The question is are these primary cargo routes (which cheap fares often onboard) now profitable with today's oil prices and the inefficient a/c that the A300s are?

Out of Miami - which is the largest international cargo hub in the country - yes, they still are. Break-even load factor on certain medium-haul Miami-Caribbean/LatAm route is still below 60% (not as good as a few years ago when it was close to 40%, but still excellent).

Out of Orlando, this was never a primary cargo route.

It should be noted though, that while three A300s are leaving the fleet, the remaining 31 A300s will be able to fly the entire current A300 schedule. AA only has 27 A300s flying in one day. Of course, reliability problems can create trouble.

San Juan non-stops to MCO, FLL, BWI, EWR, LAX, and IAD end in September.

These are mostly routes that have heavy competition...
MCO can't be profitable flying with R/T tickets hovering around $160 all-in. FLL is the same story. EWR is COs fortress hub, the EWR flight was inherited from Eastern in the 80s. BWI and IAD are a bit more surprising, however, United has stepped up competition on that one. LAX seems to be always full in peak season, but as we all know, it's just difficult to run a 3386 mile flight (longer than BOS-LHR and almost as long as JFK-LHR) charging domestic fares.

I hope they time-shift the JFK-SJU schedule then - the morning EWR flight was well timed for a raft of SJU ATR departures.

I agree, I have just done EWR-SJU-NEV and it was a great connection. What a shame.

JFK-SJU departures will be at 0630AM, 0130PM, and 0535PM.

AA will be moving more and more Caribbean flying to Miami. Antigua and Grenada get Miami non-stops this fall; others will follow. Eventually all the runway-capable Caribbean islands will be flown non-stop from Miami, probably within 24 months. A few islands - such as Anguilla and Beef Island - can't handle a jet, so they'll stay SJU-only.

ORD-HNL gone
 

With regard to ORD-HNL going away, can someone who's been on the return trip, HNL-ORD, comment as to loads?

ORD-HNL was our preferred route to the neighbor islands going west. However on the eastbound we found e.g. LIH-LAX-ORD more convenient for the later departure relative to LIH-HNL-ORD.

I wonder if other people have made the same calculation and the plane wasn't being filled eastbound?

Also :mad: by this maneuver,
/pbz

So what will they serve SBA with?

We take (or should I say "took") #72 from HNL to ORD at least 4 or 5 times/year, most recently at the end of April on our way to Rome, and it was full then. I remember the load eastbound as always being full or nearly so, and a quick check of the seating map confirms this.
I talked to the EXP desk this morning, and I would like to urge all of you who are upset about the elimination of flights #72 and 73 to PLEASE contact AA and to voice your feelings here. As the agent said, AA monitors this site carefully, and we might be able to make a difference!!!

In the mid 1990s the flight from SBP - LAX used to be only BAE JetStream 31s, then AE moved up and added a few SAAB 340s. Sometimes your luggage wouldn't arrive until a later SAAB flight because of the limited luggage capacity of the JetStreams. The JetStream had 19 seats, low ceilings, no FA, a 6" tall wing spar cutting across the aisle and only a curtain separating seat 1B from the flight crew.

With the JetStreams there were about 7-9 flights per day to LAX (or SJC).
We now have 3 Saab and one RJ round trip per day to LAX.
I wonder what we will be left with after the switch to all RJs.

San Luis Obispo is about 1 1/2 hours north of Santa Barbara (SBA) if you are driving. 3 1/2-4 hours drive from LAX.

-Mike

Loads really aren't a good indication of profitability. Plus, isolated observations of passengers really doesn't give a good indication of loads.

Scratch the Baltimore-San Juan cut.

After being deleted earlier today, it is showing up again.

Mostr likely RJ's.

I guess AirTran gets credit for the drop in fare on MCO-SJU.