FORT WORTH, Texas — American Airlines' DFW control center is the decision-making hub for the airline’s day-to-day activities.
The team is tasked with overseeing operations for the world’s largest carrier. They collect data on flights, crews, aircraft maintenance and weather and troubleshoot any issues that arise.
And now they’re bracing for their busiest summer travel schedule ever.
“That will be over 11 million customers this summer that will serve at DFW airport on nearly 100,000 departures,” said Jim Moses, American’s VP of Operations for DFW Airport. “So we have been preparing. We're ready to go.”
Moses says this summer’s rush, which starts May 17 and runs through September 3, will surpass pre-pandemic levels.
They’re offering flights to 233 destinations including new direct routes to Barcelona, Tulum, and Veracruz.
“We built a schedule that we know we could operate,” Moses said. “We've got the staff to operate, the team members in place to operate it, and we are very confident with the reliability of our fleet.”
However, the announcement comes as issues with Boeing still loom over the industry. American says it won't affect summer flights, but it is causing them to cut some routes this fall and winter.
“There are a few flights that have been reduced for this for the fall and winter schedule. As we as we work through the delays from Boeing on the 787 aircraft,” Moses said.
Sean Cudahy at travel blog The Points Guy says the cuts will impact long-haul international flights to places like Dublin and Rome, but the silver lining for American in terms of massive cuts is the diversity of its fleet.
“They're less exposed to some of the challenges at Boeing because they don't have quite as many Boeing aircraft on order over the coming years as some of their competitors do,” Cudahy said.
And with all that’s going on with Boeing, the thing on everyone’s mind is what does that mean for ticket prices.
“You know, honestly here at The Points Guy, we're seeing prices that are generally actually trending downward this summer compared to past summer,” Cudahy said.
This means now may be the best time to book that getaway.