American Airlines stops Chicago-Buenos Aires, Chicago-Honolulu, Boston-San Diego flights

American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corporation, based in the United States, has begun discontinuing some of its long-haul services. While the airline’s fights from O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to Buenos Aires, Argentina, will cease to operate on September 3, 2008, its Chicago-Honolulu service will be terminated on January 5, 2009.

Between September 3, 2008, and January 5, 2009, American Airlines will operate the Chicago-Honolulu flights on peak demand days only.

The service between Boston and San Diego will be cut from September 3, 2008.

In a statement, American Airlines said the flight cuts were forced by “skyrocketing fuel prices and a softening economy in the United States” and that the changes would “significantly reduce costs and create a more sustainable supply-and-demand balance in the market.”

American Airlines Incorporated, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is the world’s largest airline in total passengers-miles transported as well as in passenger fleet size, the second-largest airline in terms of aircraft operated, and the second-largest airline company in the world (behind Air France-KLM) in terms of total operating revenues.

The airline, a wholly owned subsidiary of the AMR Corporation, operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, as well as flights to Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Western Europe, Japan, China, and India.

AMR Corporation will also restructure the operations of American Airlines and American Eagle, another airline division of AMR, at San Juan, Puerto Rico, from September 2008.

American Eagle will abolish two destinations: Samana in the Dominican Republic and Aruba Island in the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea. Both those destinations will continue to be served by American Airlines from Miami.

Eagle will also reduce the number of daily departures from San Juan to other cities.

Affected customers will be contacted starting beginning the first week of June 2008 and placed on alternative flights, the American Airlines statement added.

The website chicagotribune.com has reported that American Airlines is expected to effect more changes in the coming weeks to “achieve the company’s goal of reducing fourth-quarter mainline domestic capacity by 11% to 12% to help offset skyrocketing fuel costs.”

American Airlines will also move some of its ATR-72 turboprop planes from San Juan to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and retire its fleet of Saab 340 turboprops, which are less fuel efficient, the website chicagotribune.com quoted a company official as saying.

AMR Corporation had said a week ago that it would cut its schedule, park up to 80 planes and do away with thousands of jobs in the face of soaring fuel prices.