American Airlines' Expansion Efforts Look Good: A Sign for Upside?

In a bid to attract additional traffic, American Airlines AAL has decided to expand its international network. To this end, AAL announced six new routes to Europe and South America for travelers to experience in summer 2026. 

As part of its expansion initiative, American Airlines will debut a new service to Prague and start the sole nonstop service from the United States to Budapest, Hungary. The airline will also add new routes to tourist-friendly destinations, including Athens, Greece, Milan and Zurich. Moreover, AAL will expand its service to Buenos Aires, Argentina, from May 21 to Aug. 3, 2026, where it currently offers only winter-seasonal service. Next summer, AAL will operate four weekly flights on the route.

The seasonal service from Philadelphia to Prague will start from May 21, as will seasonal flights from Philadelphia to Budapest. Flights from Miami to Milan will operate year-round from March 29. Meanwhile, flights on the Dallas-Zurich route will operate from May 21 to Aug. 4. Seasonal flights on the Dallas-Athens route will operate from May 21. AAL intends to offer a record 18 daily flights next summer from the United States to Italy and Greece.

AAL intends to offer increased premium cabin offerings for passengers travelling to Asia next summer. To this end, the carrier aims to boost the premium seating capacity to Tokyo from Dallas and Los Angeles by more than 45% next summer, compared with the summer of 2025. 

AAL’s announcement to expand its international network is in line with its efforts to strengthen presence in markets with high potential. Despite the tariff-induced uncertainty, international revenues remain strong, owing to the buoyant demand for long-haul travel. Given this scenario, AAL’s decision to boost its international network is a highly prudent one.

Taking a Look At AAL’s Peers Regarding Internal Expansion

This summer, Delta Air Lines DAL operated nonstop flights to Copenhagen and Stockholm, as well as to more than 35 destinations across Scandinavia, through its partnership with Scandinavian Airlines System, the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We remind investors that Delta Air Lines and SAS inked a codeshare agreement last year to improve connectivity between North America and Scandinavia. Out of the 35 additional destinations operated by Delta Air Lines, six are in Denmark, 14 are in Norway and 15 in Sweden.

With long-haul travel demand remaining impressive, United Airlines UAL has decided to grow its Pacific flights. UAL has decided to introduce service to destinations like Thailand and Vietnam. United Airlines positions itself as the first airline to provide nonstop service to Adelaide, Australia. Starting Dec. 11, 2025, United Airlines is expected to start its nonstop three-times-weekly seasonal service from San Francisco to Adelaide, targeting the Australian summer season.

AAL’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of AAL have gained 18.1% in a year compared with the Zacks Transportation-Airline industry’s 51% uptick in the same timeframe.

From a valuation standpoint, AAL trades at a 12-month forward price-to-sales of 0.14X. AAL is inexpensive compared with its industry.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AAL’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has been revised downward over the past 60 days.

AAL's Zacks Rank

AAL currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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