American Airlines made a slight adjustment to its popular service between its hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California. Earlier this month, the carrier removed redeye flights on the route, and now only operates daytime frequencies.
The changes came just two days after American ended flights between SNA and Miami International Airport (MIA) – its South American and Caribbean gateway hub. It was the airline’s farthest destination from SNA, but now, that title goes to CLT.
From redeye to daytime
Since the beginning of this year, American has operated daily flights in each direction between SNA and CLT on the Airbus A321neo. The service was formerly carried by one flight number – AA2209 – which operated as an Orange County turn. According to FlightAware, the flight would depart CLT at around 18:45 and arrive at SNA around 20:15. It would then turn around and depart Orange County around 21:15 and land back in Charlotte early the next morning around 04:30.
This month, the frequencies were slightly reduced, and flight times have been adjusted. According to aviation data and analytics provider Cirium, American is operating near-daily frequencies this month, with 30 flights scheduled from CLT to SNA and 29 flights scheduled in return.
AA2209 operated its normal schedule until August 7th, when the flight times changed. The flight now only covers one leg on the route, which is the eastbound journey. It departs SNA at 07:45 and has a scheduled arrival at CLT around 15:45. AA419, the SNA-bound flight, officially began on August 6th. It leaves Charlotte at 17:00 and arrives in Orange County just before 19:00.
In a statement to Simple Flying, a spokesperson from the airline said adjustments to flight times and schedules are typical.
“American routinely retimes flights and adjusts flight numbers throughout our system for various reasons across our schedule periods. We’re still flying to Charlotte (CLT) from SNA and five other destinations across the U.S.”
Cancelation of Miami service
American suspended its MIA-SNA service on August 5th. Unfortunately, the route did not last long, as it was only introduced in January of this year. Unlike CLT-SNA, American deployed its Boeing 737 MAX 8s on the route. When it was first launched, American similarly scheduled the route as a turn. The westbound flight would depart in the morning, spend about an hour on the ground at SNA, and then return to MIA, arriving in the evening.
This schedule changed over the summer to involve a redeye flight. Additionally, it added another 737 MAX 8 to the operation. During the last few weeks of its operation, AA2928 from MIA would arrive at SNA around 22:30, while AA298 would leave SNA earlier – at around 20:15 – and land on the East Coast just after 05:00. The aircraft that operated AA2928 would then sit overnight and depart to another destination the next morning.
The risk of curfews
With one less aircraft to manage overnight, American was likely able to adjust its CLT service. Since there is limited gate space at SNA, redeye flights allowed the airline to still serve the airport without having to worry if there was enough room for all aircraft to stay overnight. However, delays to the inbound flights could cause a ripple effect as SNA has a curfew. Flights expected to land after the curfew has started may be canceled altogether or divert to nearby Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). If an inbound flight lands before the curfew begins but is delayed enough to push back the outbound departure past the curfew, then it will be canceled.
Interestingly, American is the only airline to operate the A321neo at SNA. In addition to CLT, the carrier operates the aircraft type to its other hubs at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport (DFW) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).