American Airlines held its internal leadership conference “Journey ’26” last week, where senior management lays out priorities. It was focused on customer experience, network strategy, modernization and resilience. It’s similar to United’s “Summit” and Delta’s “Connections.” I’ve attended a couple of these in the past as a guest.
At the event, the airline had a ‘vote on our next destination’ event with jelly beans and it’s interesting the destinations that were highlighted: Seville, Spain; Berlin, Germany; Bordeaux, France; Casablanca, Morocco; Shannon, Ireland; Mallorca, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa; Vienna, Austria; Brussels, Belgium; Cordoba, Argentina.
An awesome day was had!.. pic.twitter.com/9dkq6RkbwZ
— Andy Monks ✈️ (@AndythePandy_) February 3, 2026
Last week they announced Porto. So with United and Delta adding secondary Europe with a leisure focus American is looking there, too.
Porto won’t be until summer 2027. If I were looking at 2027 adds I’d be looking to seasonal Europe as the focus. American could surprise me but long haul Africa (or Asia Pacific, other than Australia) seems a long shot for them.
Vienna is incredible. It’s hardly secondary Europe though – just a hole in the network map. I’ve been attached to it since Richard Linklater’s 1995 classic Before Sunrise where young American Ethan Hawke is traveling Europe and meets Frenchwoman Julie Delpy on a train. They disembark together in Vienna and spend the night talking, walking the city, and falling in love.
At the end of the film they don’t exchange numbers. Instead they plan to meet up again in Europe in six months, and the film ends leaving viewers wondering whether they actually do (a question that’s answered 9 years later in the outstanding Before Sunset).
The Airbus A321XLR should make Shannon pretty easy. Vienna may be more of a stretch for them to add with a 787. Let’s see how long we have to wonder before getting a next new summer Europe on American Airlines.
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