American Airlines Applauds U.S. Department of Transportation for Tentatively Awarding the Airline a New Brazil Route

American Airlines applauded the Show Cause Order announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), tentatively awarding American with route authority and frequencies to begin service this fall from Los Angeles to Sao Paulo.

"This is great news for American and our customers," said Will Ris, American's Senior Vice President - Government and Regulatory Affairs. "We appreciate that the DOT conducted a thorough review of all applications and agreed to tentatively grant us the needed approvals so we may begin flying from our hub at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Sao Paulo. LAX currently has no nonstop service to Brazil by a U.S. carrier and American wants to expand its service to Brazil to meet customer demand in this extremely important and growing market. We also want to again thank our many supporters, including U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California and the members of the greater Los Angeles area congressional delegation; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; and the American employees who submitted letters on our behalf to DOT. Additionally, we want to thank Los Angeles World Airports for submitting a paper to DOT in support of our proposal.

"American had hoped to also be granted approval to fly from Chicago to Sao Paulo in the fall of 2014," added Ris. "For now, our Chicago customers can reach Sao Paulo via easy connections at American's hubs in New York (JFK), Miami and Dallas/Fort Worth."

American currently serves Brazil from Miami to Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Sao Paulo; from New York to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo; and from Dallas/Fort Worth to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

American offers more than 800 weekly flights to 49 cities throughout Latin America, including Mexico, Central and South America.