American Airlines appears to have given up on making Seattle an international gateway.
All international flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have been canceled by American. This includes a route from Seattle to London as well as a highly sought-after slot at Heathrow.
British Airways, American's partner, will now fly the route from Seattle on its own. American stated in a statement:
"As part of our ongoing network evaluation, American Airlines has made the difficult decision to end service between Seattle (SEA) and London (LHR)." We intend to operate 25 daily flights to LHR from ten different US cities next summer.
British Airways, our partner, maintains service between SEA and LHR. We're reaching out to impacted customers ahead of time to offer alternate travel arrangements."
To compensate for the loss of the Seattle route, American will add a second flight from Miami to London. Cutting all international flights is an implicit admission that Seattle did not perform as well as American had hoped as a global hub.
As part of its hub and spoke system, American will continue to use its hubs in Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, among others. This includes additional flights to the company's headquarters and main hub in Dallas/Fort Worth.