Sometimes routes are set up experimentally to test how well they perform – and if they are fiscally viable. Other times, routes are set up in fear of competition from other carriers.
American Airlines set up a route between New York JFK and Viracopos/Campinas International Airport, which was to operate three times a week between the two cities using a Boeing 767-300ER.
American Airlines Boeing 767-300ER boarding at Manchester UK
However, this route appears not to have worked for American Airlines, with the route being withdrawn after the 28th March (with the last departure from Viracopos/Campinas on the 29th March.
Why the interest in Viracopos/Campinas? It can be put down to Azul, who are working away on their International routes from Viracopos/Campinas. Already the airline operates long haul services to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, with a long-term aim of serving New York.
Viracopos/Campinas International Airport is in an odd position, and whilst it serves the Sao Paulo area, it is 82km from the city itself. The airport is 20km from Campinas – this sadly doesn’t help for those who wish to head to Sao Paulo.
American Airlines continues its main operations to Sao Paulo, with operations to Guarulhos International Airport from New York-JFK, Dallas Fort-Worth, Los Angeles and Miami. The airline also continues to serve the Miami to Viracopos/Campinas route.
Sometimes, experiments need to happen to understand a market. But with no onward feed from Viracopos/Campinas, and the area dominated by Azul – this experiment is due to come to an end.
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FYI, AA is just cutting the 3x weekly JFK service, but will continue to retain the daily MIA-VCP route.
Nevermind, overlooked that one line in your post. The title made it sound like they were completely eliminating VCP as a destination in their route network. Apologies.
Really misleading title. American will continue to fly to VCP daily from Miami. You point it out at the end, but the headling, and quite frankly the entire article until the last paragraph, over-exaggerates the situation.