American Airlines is to cease flying from New York JFK to San Juan in Puerto Rico, a route it has served for more than 46 years.
USA Today has reported that American will discontinue its twice-daily JFK nonstop service to San Juan on August 22. The airline, which has flown JFK-SJU daily since it acquired Trans Caribbean Airlines in 1971, called the move “a difficult decision” based on route profitability and supply and demand.
San Juan was once a major Caribbean hub for American, but the airline has been cutting back service to the airport and across the Caribbean for several years now. Jet Blue and, to a lesser extent, Southwest Airlines have moved to increase their Caribbean service in response. For example, JetBlue – which has its biggest hub at JFK – now flies five round trips daily to San Juan.
Delta Air Lines also has four daily flights between the two airports, while United serves the Puerto Rican capital from its hub at nearby Newark.
American will still operate a total of 21 flights daily to San Juan from its other hubs in Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami and Philadelphia.
