AMERICAN WILL DISCONTINUE ITS SEATTLE-TOKYO AND DFW-OSAKA SERVICES, EFFECTIVE JAN. 8, 2002

American Airlines announced today that effective Jan. 8, 2002, it will discontinue its nonstop services between Seattle and Tokyo, and between Dallas/Fort Worth and Osaka, Japan.

American will continue to operate nonstop service to Tokyo from its hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago, and from its focus-city flight center at San Jose, Calif.

"Weak economic conditions and the devastating effects of the Sept. 11 attacks have hurt demand between the U.S. and Japan and make it impractical to continue the Seattle-Tokyo and DFW-Osaka routes," said Henry Joyner, American’s senior vice president of planning. "We deeply regret this decision, especially since we just recently observed the 10th anniversary of the Seattle-Tokyo service. But the harsh economic realities of the marketplace leave us with no alternative."

American began flying the Seattle-Tokyo route on Oct. 1, 1991, and has served DFW-Osaka since 1998. The airline operates the Seattle-Tokyo service six days a week, and flies the DFW-Osaka route four days a week. American serves both routes with Boeing 777s.

Despite the cancellations, American remains one of the nation’s largest international carriers, serving eight destinations in six countries in Europe and 32 destinations in 18 countries in Central and South America and Mexico. American and its regional affiliate, American Eagle, also serve a total of 35 destinations in the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Bermuda.

At DFW and Chicago, its two largest hubs, American offers an extensive array of international services, flying daily to 22 international cities from DFW and 14 international cities from Chicago. Miami is American’s major hub for services to Latin America.

As part of the changes announced today, American also said it will discontinue its Miami-Seattle nonstop flight, effective Jan. 8.