American Flees Washington-Boston Routes As JetBlue Comes In

(MoneyWatch)  Remember that little slot swap that American (AMR) and JetBlue (JBLU) executed back in April? American gave up eight slot pairs at Washington's National Airport and one at White Plains in exchange for twelve from JetBlue at JFK. Now that routes have been announced, American has basically ceded its Washington to Boston flying over to JetBlue.

JetBlue announced at the end of April that it would use those slots to primarily fly from National to Boston. Seven daily flights start on November 1. So isn't it convenient that just yesterday, American announced that it will be pulling out of that very same route on that very same day?

Well, it's not convenient, it just makes sense. American has been touting its cornerpost strategy which has it focusing on its hubs in LA, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Miami. You'll notice that neither Washington nor Boston are in that group. Having given up 8 slot pairs in Washington, American had to make a choice: Cut something.

Assuming that it isn't going to cut routes to any of those cornerpost cities, that left it with the following options:

• 6x Boston
• 5x Nashville
• 8x Raleigh/Durham
• 4x St Louis

Let's look at these. You might think that St Louis would be the most obvious since they've slowly but surely brought that hub down to nothing. But nobody else flies that route, and I imagine that all those Missouri politicians take that flight a lot. American has done enough to anger the delegation from the Show Me State in recent years.

Nashville and Raleigh/Durham are both in the same boat. They're both served by US Airways (LCC) from National, and they're both former American hubs that have a fair number of loyalists to American. It doesn't really make sense to cut those when Boston is an option.

Not only are US Airways and Delta (DAL) in Boston, but as we know, JetBlue is coming in. You might say, well, it's a bigger market so there is room for all those, right? Maybe, but look at those fares. I took a random date in early December and found this comparison:

Lowest roundtrip fare to Raleigh on American: $307.40 Lowest roundtrip fare to Boston on JetBlue: $149.40

Yep, those low cost carriers sure can be pesky. So you can see why American settled on Boston. Besides, its warming relationship with JetBlue might end up giving them a presence on the route again some day. Interesting.

Original Photo via Flickr User ktylerconk