American’s Return to LA Kicks Off Flood of New Service

American Airlines is set to launch nonstop service between Pittsburgh International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport this Friday, marking the airline’s return to the market for the first time since February 2017.

American will operate its PIT-LAX service daily, year-round using 172-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which feature First Class and Main Cabin Extra seating with additional legroom, high-speed wi-fi and in-seat power in every row.

Having LAX as a destination on a major network carrier like American is a significant addition to PIT’s strategy for expanding West Coast service. The route is particularly important for Pittsburgh-area businesses that share ties with Southern California.

The new service is especially vital to Pittsburgh’s film industry, whose professionals travel frequently between Hollywood and Western Pennsylvania.

“Our clients, the economic generating film and TV industry, have brought over $2.5 billion dollars to the region and love working in Southwest Pennsylvania,” Dawn Keezer, executive director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said when American announced its PIT-LAX route in December.

Additional capacity on the PIT-LAX route is expected to bring even more work to Pittsburgh.

In addition to American Airlines, Breeze Airways is increasing its nonstop PIT-LAX service from three times a week to five times a week by June. Breeze began service to Los Angeles in 2023.

In addition to business opportunities, Los Angeles boasts numerous tourist attractions, such as Warner Bros. and Universal studios, the Petersen Automotive Museum and Griffith Observatory. The Southern California region also offers a variety of natural attractions, such as Venice and Santa Monica beaches, Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park.

A hub for American, LAX provides convenient connections for travelers heading to Hawaii. Additionally, American and its Oneworld Alliance partner Qantas offer seamless one-stop connections to Australia and New Zealand, with both airlines operating year-round flights from LAX to Melbourne and Sydney and seasonal flights to Auckland.

With the addition of Los Angeles, American now serves 13 destinations from PIT, including all 10 of its hubs within the continental U.S. The airline also is expanding its international service from PIT with its announcement of new nonstop flights to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, starting in December.

American, a member of the Oneworld Alliance, also codeshares on British Airways’ nonstop service between Pittsburgh and London Heathrow. Fellow Oneworld member Alaska Airlines flies nonstop daily to Seattle from PIT.

Icelandair flights return April 17

As American launches new service to the Pacific coast, PIT will welcome back a seasonal route across the Atlantic with the resumption of nonstop flights by Icelandair between Pittsburgh and Reykjavik, Iceland, on April 17.

Icelandair, which started service from PIT in May 2024, moved up its resumption of the Pittsburgh-Reykjavik route to April in 2025, giving travelers more opportunities to visit Iceland and connect to Europe. Icelandair’s extended duration of the Pittsburgh-Reykjavik route, scheduled to operate through October, will boost PIT’s overall capacity to Europe this year, coupled with British Airways increasing its London service to seven days a week that began on Monday.

Through Reykjavik, travelers can easily connect to more than 25 destinations across continental Europe, plus others via Icelandair’s long list of partner airlines. In 2024, Pittsburgh travelers connected through Icelandair’s network to markets such as Dublin, Germany and Scandinavia.

Icelandair offers a novel “stopover” option that allows travelers to add up to a week-long layover in Iceland at no additional airfare cost before continuing to their final destination. Icelandair even provides ready-made itineraries and tour packages, ranging from geothermal bathing at the Blue Lagoon to witnessing the Northern Lights, that travelers can add to their stopover in the Land of Fire and Ice.

JetBlue begins service to NYC on May 1

JetBlue will return to the Empire State when it launches nonstop service between Pittsburgh and New York-JFK on May 1. The route, last flown by JetBlue in 2013, will operate daily, year-round on the airline’s new Airbus A220-300 aircraft. It will supplement JetBlue’s existing daily service to Boston.

The addition strengthens Pittsburgh’s robust portfolio of service to New York. Five airlines at PIT (American, Delta, JetBlue, Spirit and United) offer daily nonstop service to New York’s three major airports: Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark.

JetBlue’s PIT-JFK route will include a morning outbound flight and nighttime inbound flight, ideal for business travelers wanting a full day of work as well as leisure travelers planning daytrips.

JetBlue’s service is also timed to facilitate connections to major Caribbean destinations, including San Juan, Montego Bay, Aruba and Nassau, plus unique markets such as Barbados, St. Kitts and Turks and Caicos. Travelers will also have access to many other international markets through JetBlue’s partnerships with global carriers like Air Serbia, TAP Air Portugal and Qatar Airways.

Breeze Airways heads to South Carolina on May 1

Just hours after JetBlue launches its first PIT-JFK flight, Breeze Airways is set to begin Pittsburgh’s first nonstop flights to upstate South Carolina in over 20 years.

Starting on May 1, Breeze will offer nonstop, seasonal service to Greenville/Spartanburg operating twice a week on Sundays and Thursdays through August. The addition makes Breeze the first carrier with PIT-GSP nonstop flights since 2004, when US Airways operated the route from its Pittsburgh hub.

Greenville/Spartanburg has become a rising market for leisure travelers with the region reporting significant growth in tourism. In addition to numerous outdoor and historical attractions, Clemson University, an NCAA Atlantic Coastal Conference rival of the University of Pittsburgh, is less than an hour’s drive from downtown Greenville.

The Carolinas are a top market for Pittsburgh travelers, with PIT now having nonstop service to five destinations in the region. Breeze to Greenville/Spartanburg joins existing service to Charlotte on American; Charleston on Breeze; Myrtle Beach on Allegiant Air, Southwest Airlines and Spirit; and Raleigh-Durham on American and Breeze.

Breeze will operate the new route with its new 137-seat Airbus A220-300 aircraft, which feature first-class-style and extra-legroom seating, high-speed Wi-Fi and in-seat power. Since entering the Pittsburgh market in 2021, Breeze has rapidly expanded its Pittsburgh network to 13 destinations by utilizing its growing fleet of Airbus A220s to serve previously underserved routes.