American Airlines is relaunching direct services from Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) from October 29, coinciding with the North American 2022-2023 winter flying season. This will benefit passengers looking to head down under to escape the winter chills.

The service from California to New South Wales will operate daily onboard the American Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. However, the airline plans to upscale select flights to the Boeing 777 over December 2022 and January 2023 to accommodate peak demand.

Americans 787-9 have three cabin classes, including a 234-seat economy class cabin, a 21-seat premium economy cabin, and a 30-seat "Flagship" business class.

Return of the Big Three

This marks a return of the 'Big Three' American Airlines of Delta (DL), United (UA), and American (AA) to Australia, with all now operating on the lucrative route. This also compliments the daily Qantas (QF) Airbus A380 service flying its way across the Pacific.

American's connectivity out of LAX seems to be a big driver on the relaunch of the route, with seamless connections on offer for Australians looking to travel to other parts of the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

It's a case of better late than never because demand (and fares) on Australia - US routes are now booming. Competitors already flying between Sydney and Los Angeles are currently reaping the benefits of full planes and some very strong yields.

On and off again relationship with Sydney

American last serviced the route earlier this year, up to May 5, but had stopped due to ongoing delays in delivery of its growing 787-9 fleet, paired with the mellow market post-pandemic. The delayed deliveries had forced American to slim down its flight schedule this year for the Northern Hemisphere summer season, with flights temporarily suspended not just between Los Angeles and Sydney, but also those between Seattle (SEA) and London Heathrow (LHR), and Dallas (DFW) and Santiago (SCL).

Over the last few years, American has had an on and off again relationship with Sydney due to various factors. The service was cut in April 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic, and resumed in November 2020 but cut again in October 2021 due to restrictions on passengers at the Australian border. American then resumed the service once again in January of this year and cut it in May due to the aircraft delivery delays.

Pre-pandemic aspirations

Pre-COVID-19, American Airlines operated to two destinations in Australia and New Zealand: Sydney and Auckland (AKL). With the future in sight, the Fort Worth-based carrier planned to serve Christchurch, New Zealand, via Los Angeles, and add new nonstop flights from Dallas to Auckland to expand the scope of its joint venture with Qantas Airways before COVID-19 put the brakes on the aviation industry globally.

Pre-pandemic, flights between Los Angeles and Sydney saw five carriers, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Qantas, United Airlines, and Virgin Australia (VA).