American Air to Launch First Flight to Africa, Return to Tel Aviv

(Bloomberg) -- American Airlines Group Inc. will start its first flight to Africa next year while also resuming service to Tel Aviv and expanding into three new cities in Eastern Europe.

The carrier will fly nonstop three times a week between Philadelphia and Casablanca, Morocco, from June 4 through Sept. 8, according to a statement Thursday. A pending partnership with Royal Air Maroc may lead to future connecting flights to cities such as Marrakech, Morocco, and Lagos, Nigeria, said Vasu Raja, American’s vice president of network and schedule planning.

American will also fly three times a week between Dallas and Tel Aviv starting Sept. 9, 2020, in response to increasing demand. The airline stopped unprofitable service to the Israeli city in January 2016. American will add seasonal service from Chicago to Prague and Budapest between May and October, and from Philadelphia to Krakow, Poland, its first flights to that city.

The new flights can be purchased starting Aug. 12 for all destinations but Tel Aviv, which will be available Oct. 10. The routes are subject to government approval.

Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc is joining the Oneworld alliance, which includes American and British Airways.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren

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