What do you all think of AA flying into FAI? Do you think it will ever happen?

Doubt it. United beat them to it with upcoming ORD and SFO.
And Delta is well-established on their long running seasonal flights to SEA and MSP.

Plus... the fact they aren't even willing to run ANC year round tells me they are anything but "committed" to serving Alaska

Granted they upgauged DFW-ANC to a 787, but if they can't even fly one daily PHX or LAX in the winter, it tells me they're perfectly content routing via the AS codeshare

At one point before current day codesharing, American Airlines did serve FAI thru an interchange with Alaska Airlines. Alaska and American would share metal on the routes and the local crews would fly the trips. Both Alaska and American 727-200's would be operated by AS crews from FAI-ANC-SEA and an AA crew would continue the thru flight south or east. I believe this went on from the 1980's thru the mid 1990's.

Looking at a January 31, 1993 American Airlines timetable:

AA391 BUF-ORD-SEA-ANC-FAI 72S
AA394 FAI-ANC-SEA-ORD-BUF 72S
AA395 IAH-DFW-SEA-ANC-FAI 72S
AA396 FAI-ANC-SEA-DFW-IAH 72S

Ryan

Fairbanks got a SCASD grant a few months ago and the goal is PHX or LAX on AA.

Wow o wow they uograded DFWANC to a 787? When?

MAH4546 wrote:

Fairbanks got a SCASD grant a few months ago and the goal is PHX or LAX on AA.

Please forgive me what does SCASD mean?

32andBelow wrote:

Wow o wow they uograded DFWANC to a 787? When?

It went into the system today but it was announced officially a few days ago

jetsetterusa wrote:

MAH4546 wrote:

Fairbanks got a SCASD grant a few months ago and the goal is PHX or LAX on AA.

Please forgive me what does SCASD mean?

https://www.transportation.gov/policy/a ... ice/SCASDP

Color me skeptical on LAX-FAI. Alaska doesn't even fly it.

The AA network - perpetual #2 in Chicago, no Northwest hub - is not an obvious fit to tertiary destinations in Alaska.

I am skeptical too, but AS doesnt fly it becasue it overflys 4 AS hubs.

KICT wrote:

Doubt it. United beat them to it with upcoming ORD and SFO.
And Delta is well-established on their long running seasonal flights to SEA and MSP.

They’ve been running ORD for a couple of years now. They’re also adding DEN this summer.

MAH4546 wrote:

Fairbanks got a SCASD grant a few months ago and the goal is PHX or LAX on AA.

Didn’t that wind up going to market the new FAI-SFO service on UA?

[*]

KICT wrote:

Doubt it. United beat them to it with upcoming ORD and SFO.
And Delta is well-established on their long running seasonal flights to SEA and MSP.

DL operates FAI-SEA year round now. Started a couple of years ago.

For all that it's been truncated in recent years, the AS codeshare still works well as AA's "in" to smaller Alaska destinations.

Recall that Reno Air (QQ) served FAI in the mid/late 1990s prior to acquisition by AA in 1999. Nowadays, it's not hard to imagine AA dropping in to FAI from PHX during peak summer season. Yet so far they have appeared happy to let AS do the heavy lifting up north, even as DL and UA have expanded.

DL expanded to year-round service in winter 2015-2016, albeit using regional (E175) aircraft. Last year saw year-round mainline service to SEA with A319 operating the winter months. This winter sees a mix of A319 and E175, along with shift to daytime schedule.

On the UA side - in addition to new peak season services to DEN and SFO, UA's FAI-ORD service will kick off April 29, over a month earlier than in recent years.

Omg who cares about FAILAX let’s talk more about this 787. Are they gonna be able to work it off the end of the b Concorse or are they gonna have to park it at north. And is a -8 or a -9?

32andBelow wrote:

Omg who cares about FAILAX let’s talk more about this 787. Are they gonna be able to work it off the end of the b Concorse or are they gonna have to park it at north. And is a -8 or a -9?

It’s a 787-8, also communicated this week PHX-ANC this summer will operate with the 321Neo.

32andBelow wrote:

Omg who cares about FAILAX let’s talk more about this 787. Are they gonna be able to work it off the end of the b Concorse or are they gonna have to park it at north. And is a -8 or a -9?

DL and DE park 767’s on the end of B every summer. Shouldn’t be much different to stick a 787 in there.

Frostbite wrote:

Recall that Reno Air (QQ) served FAI in the mid/late 1990s prior to acquisition by AA in 1999. Nowadays, it's not hard to imagine AA dropping in to FAI from PHX during peak summer season. Yet so far they have appeared happy to let AS do the heavy lifting up north, even as DL and UA have expanded.

DL expanded to year-round service in winter 2015-2016, albeit using regional (E175) aircraft. Last year saw year-round mainline service to SEA with A319 operating the winter months. This winter sees a mix of A319 and E175, along with shift to daytime schedule.

On the UA side - in addition to new peak season services to DEN and SFO, UA's FAI-ORD service will kick off April 29, over a month earlier than in recent years.

AA has historically not given a rats you-know-what about Alaska. I’m not surprised they’re not in FAI, especially when they can push their traffic off on to an AS codeshare.

I’ll be really interested to see how well UA does in FAI in 2019. FAI isn’t as seasonal as ANC and it’s a smaller market. As a dyed in the wool Nanook I really hope it does well. It’s been great to see DL develop its market there in the last couple years.

I for one am THRILLED by both the 787 and the 321neo service this summer.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'll fly it, because I can't earn my AS miles on those AA flights.
And have you SEEN what AA is asking for first class tickets ANC-DFW-ANC this year??? Upwards of $3200!!!
No way in heck would I pay that, even for a 787 flatbed. I'd frankly rather go to Tahiti for a month, and still have cash left over!!

Will it "ever" happen...sure. Anything is possible. I would imagine ORD is the best option for AA despite the competition. The connections through the hub there are better than what LAX can offer.

Other than the SEA market (Alaska Airlines), FAI-Eastern US has been led by NW/Delta for many years. It is a small enough city that more competition might not make money for anyone.

AA737-823 wrote:

I for one am THRILLED by both the 787 and the 321neo service this summer.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'll fly it, because I can't earn my AS miles on those AA flights.
And have you SEEN what AA is asking for first class tickets ANC-DFW-ANC this year??? Upwards of $3200!!!
No way in heck would I pay that, even for a 787 flatbed. I'd frankly rather go to Tahiti for a month, and still have cash left over!!

If AA can sell F seats at $3k round trip on DFW-ANC, more power to them. Might be that extra impetus to keep the service through the winter.

Also, there are enough AA loyalists with money to burn in Dallas who will pay for F on their summer fishing excursion to Alaska. Between that and the cruise ship traffic and I don’t think AA will have a huge problem filling F on the 787.

DFW-ANC would also be a great mileage redemption using AS miles.

Flighty wrote:

Other than the SEA market (Alaska Airlines), FAI-Eastern US has been led by NW/Delta for many years. It is a small enough city that more competition might not make money for anyone.

Granted that leadership has only happened for about four months out of the year every year. I’ve done FAI-MSP-ATL in the past and it was a great flight.

UA has been on a role adding FAI service. If AA can make a 787 DFW-ANC work, I think a Saturday-only seasonal 738 would be feasible.

AA737-823 wrote:

I for one am THRILLED by both the 787 and the 321neo service this summer.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'll fly it, because I can't earn my AS miles on those AA flights.
And have you SEEN what AA is asking for first class tickets ANC-DFW-ANC this year??? Upwards of $3200!!!
No way in heck would I pay that, even for a 787 flatbed. I'd frankly rather go to Tahiti for a month, and still have cash left over!!

You can go DFW-HNL in first on the 772 for 2500 lol and sometimes I have found it less around 1800 on some days!