With summer 2024 in its last days, the mood shifts. Subtle things, like changing leaves, pumpkin spice everything, and Halloween plans are all afoot. But it is always summer at airline American Airlines (AAL), where the thought is already swinging to summer 2025. Indeed, a plan to add new routes to the schedule sent shares blasting up nearly 4% in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
Starting in spring and going into summer, American will have several new routes heading for Europe. The new routes kick off on March 30, with a flight going nonstop from Chicago to Madrid. Then, in May, Philadelphia will get a flight to Milan followed by a flight to Edinburgh, a phenomenon not seen since before COVID-19.
After that, in June, American will add a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Athens, followed by a flight from Miami to Rome in July. It also expects to boost its trans-Atlantic capacity by “low-to-mid-single digits over this year,” reports note, which makes sense given the number of new destinations it is expected to run. American senior vice president of network planning Brian Znotins notes, “More capacity is warranted to address the demand.”
Difficult Passengers
Yet, some may reconsider flying on American Airlines for those long trans-Atlantic flights. New reports feature several examples of unruly passengers, including one on a flight from Milwaukee to Dallas. Said passenger began openly vaping in the first-class section, which ultimately prompted the flight to be diverted to Tulsa, and the passenger was ultimately remanded to police custody.
Meanwhile, a different flight to Dallas—this time from Newark—found itself diverted to Pittsburgh after someone discovered a bomb threat written in pink ink on a bathroom door. Apparently, the bomb threat, which read simply “there’s a bomb onboard,” was “barely legible” but enough to prompt concern over a “possible security issue.” Neither a bomb nor a pink pen was discovered on the flight subsequently.
Is American Airlines Stock a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on AAL stock based on four Buys, five Holds, and one Sell assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 23.45% loss in its share price over the past year, the average AAL price target of $12.39 per share implies 12.48% upside potential.
