American Airlines is preparing for a busy Thanksgiving travel period where they expect to welcome 8.3 million travelers across more than 77,000 flights between November 21st and December 3rd.
The Fort Worth based carrier announced that it has staffed up to prepare for winter weather, with team members trained for deicing and expanded capacity, at airports like Chicago O’Hare (ORD). David Seymour, American’s Chief Operating Officer, had this to say about the company’s preparation:
“Thanks to the hard work of our 130,000 team members, we canceled fewer flights than any of our major competitors this October and beat our own records for on-time departures and arrivals. When you purchase a ticket on American, you’re trusting us to provide a safe and reliable journey. We are ready to continue delivering on that promise this Thanksgiving.”
American also released some fun facts related to its Thanksgiving travel period. While these are mostly fluff, as an AvGeek and data nerd, I thought they were interesting enough to write about (I’m home sick on the sofa).
Seven Facts About American’s Thanksgiving Operation
- American’s travel period runs from Nov. 21 to Dec. 3, and the airline expects to carry more than 500,000 more customers than last year.
- The most-traveled day will be Sunday, Dec. 1, with the second most-traveled day slated for Monday, Dec. 2.
- 1,500 mainline and regional aircraft will travel nearly 65 million miles — the equivalent of more than 2,500 times around the Earth — between Nov. 21 and Dec. 3.
- The peak of peak: 1,035 mainline and regional aircraft will be enroute at 10:45 a.m. CT on Sunday, Dec. 1, the highest number of flights handled at any given time during American’s travel period.
- The airline expects to serve more than 6.8 million Biscoff cookies on board from Nov. 21 to Dec. 3. If placed in a line, these cookies would stretch nearly the distance of a flight from New York (LGA/JFK) to Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT).
- Thanksgiving comes after American’s best-ever October for on-time departures, on-time arrivals and baggage handling performance.
- There were nine days in October when American did not cancel a single mainline flight and 10 when the airline didn’t cancel a single regional flight.
While the ATX Jetsetter crew will be traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re just making a short drive up to Dallas from Austin. Hopefully those who are planning to fly to visit friends and family have smooth travels over the Thanksgiving travel period.
Summary
American Airlines is preparing for a busy Thanksgiving travel period where the carrier expects to transport over eight million passengers. Are you planning to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday this year?