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American Airlines is to axe its daily flights from Stansted to New York amid growing concern about the cost of fuel.

The carrier said the last flight would depart from Stansted on July 2, less than a year after it started the service.

American said it would continue its flights between New York’s JFK airport and Heathrow, but added it was looking to reduce its costs in face of “‘skyrocketing fuel prices and a softening economy'”.

source: edp24.co.uk

America’s largest carrier American Airlines has said it will soon start charging passengers $15 to check their first bag each way, or $30 round-trip, if they are flying on a discounted fare.

The airline’s new policy, which comes into effect on June 15 hits fliers hard, as only two weeks ago many major carriers, including American, began charging $25 each way for checking a second bag.

source: galwayfirst.ie

American Airlines is to become the first major US carrier to charge passengers to check in a first bag.

The new fee of $15 (£7.50) comes as US airlines struggle with soaring fuel costs and a slumping economy.

The airline says it will also cut a number of its domestic flights and get rid of older, fuel-guzzling jets.

International travellers will be exempt from the fee. American joined other US carriers last month in charging $25 for a second checked bag.

source: BBC News

The largest US carrier American Airlines scrapped around 570 flights Friday to inspect wiring on its fleet of MD-80 aircraft. The cancellations represented around a quarter of the airline’s flights.

Another 900 flights were cancelled on Thursday and more than 1,500 over the previous two days, affecting over 250,000 passengers. The airline grounded the same planes just last month, cancelling 200 flights in connection with an industrywide probe by government aviation authorities to ensure compliance with safety inspections.

source: earthtimes.org

American Airlines might begin charging $25 each way for a second checked bag as jet fuel prices remain near record highs.

American, the world’s largest airline, notified Canadian regulators that it’s considering adding the charge for passengers originating in Canada. The airline isn’t required to file a similar notice in the U.S. No decision has been made, spokesman Tim Wagner said Thursday.

source: theNewsTribune.com

Five people got the lavish ride of a lifetime as the only passengers on a transatlantic flight, causing environmental groups to criticize the major carrier for leaving a wasteful carbon footprint.

Using about 68,000 liters (15,000 imperial gallons) — or 13,000 liters per passenger — of jet fuel for the nine-hour trip from Chicago to London, American Airlines is being accused of unnecessary waste.

Each passenger left a footprint of 35.77 tons of carbon dioxide, enough to drive an average car 160,000 kilometers (100,000 miles).

American Airlines said it chose to continue with the flight because of the full load of passengers waiting at London’s Heathrow airport to return to the United States.

source: CNN

One hundred and thirty-three airline passengers are safe tonight after their American Airlines plane made an emergency landing at the Miami Airport.Flight 862 was headed from West Palm Beach to Chicago — but had to be diverted because of nose gear problems.

source: Kauz.com

Jet Airways and American Airlines today launched their code share partnership which would benefit passengers and frequent flier members of both airlines.

The frequent flier members of both carriers would have the benefit of earning points as they travel on these code share flights, Jet Airways said in a statement. They would be able to redeem these points on the route network of either airline.

source: India Times

American Airlines has been named Best International Airline for 2007 by readers of Travel Weekly in its annual Readers Choice Awards competition.

Travel Weekly announced the award at a recent ceremony and will publish the results in its Jan. 21 issue. American was chosen from a list of five finalists that also included British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. About 5,000 Travel Weekly readers, which include travel agents and marketing executives, voted to select the finalists in this year’s polling and those readers were then asked to vote for the nominees in 51 categories.

source: CNN.com

American Airlines increased fares Thursday due to surging crude oil and jet fuel prices, prompting Delta Air Lines to quickly follow suit and very likely setting a new round of industrywide price increases into motion.

American raised domestic fares by $10 one way and $20 roundtrip in an effort, the airline said, to recover some of the costs associated with recent large increases in the price of fuel. Delta raised its fares by $10 in most domestic markets, a spokesman said.

source: SFGate.com