American Airlines has recently made changes to its service between Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) and John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Orange County, California. The airline, which previously offered overnight flights on this route, has now switched to a schedule featuring only daytime flights. This adjustment comes shortly after American discontinued its flights between SNA and Miami International Airport (MIA), a key gateway to South America and the Caribbean. With the termination of the MIA route, Charlotte is now the farthest destination served by American from Orange County.
Since the beginning of the year, American has been operating daily flights between SNA and CLT using the Airbus A321neo. These flights were originally operated as continuous turn flights under a single flight number, AA2209. This schedule involved departures from Charlotte around 6:45 p.m., arriving in Orange County at approximately 8:15 p.m. The return flight would leave SNA at 9:15 p.m. and land in Charlotte early the next morning at 4:30 a.m. However, this month witnessed a slight reduction in frequencies and adjustments to the flight timings.
According to Cirium, an aviation data and analytics provider, American is now running near-daily operations with 30 flights scheduled from CLT to SNA and 29 flights returning. On August 7, the schedule for AA2209 was altered, now covering only the eastbound journey. The flight departs SNA at 7:45 a.m., arriving in Charlotte around 3:45 p.m. A new flight, AA419, was launched on August 6, leaving Charlotte at 5:00 p.m. and arriving in Orange County shortly before 7:00 p.m.
American Airlines ended its SNA-MIA service on August 5, just months after its launch in January. The route, operated by Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, originally ran as a turn, with a westbound morning departure from MIA and a return to Miami by evening. Over the summer, this schedule was modified to include redeye flights and an additional 737 MAX 8. In its final weeks, flight AA2928 from Miami arrived in SNA at about 10:30 p.m., while AA298 left Orange County at around 8:15 p.m., landing back in Miami shortly after 5:00 a.m.
With the reduction of one aircraft overnight at SNA, American has been able to optimize its CLT service. The limited gate space at John Wayne Airport made redeye flights a practical solution, avoiding the congestion of overnight aircraft parking. However, the airport’s strict curfew posed challenges; delays in inbound flights risked causing cancellations or diversions to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Arrivals before the curfew could still face issues if outbound departures were delayed beyond the curfew’s start time.
Interestingly, American Airlines remains the only airline to operate the Airbus A321neo at John Wayne Airport. Besides the Charlotte route, American utilizes this aircraft type for flights to its other major hubs at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX).
