American Airlines Is Flying Between Phoenix And London Again

PHOENIX, AZ —For the first time in over two years, an American Airlines flight went from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.

To celebrate the airline's first flight along the route since March 25, 2020, a press conference was held in the Sky Harbor terminal featuring Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallegos, Phoenix Director of Aviation Services Chad Makovsky and representatives from American Airlines.

"We are back, nonstop service to London from Phoenix on American Airlines!" Gallegos said. "We are so pleased that in about an hour the nonstop flight to Heathrow from Phoenix will be taking off. Nonstop service from Phoenix to London has returned earlier than expected and we are so thrilled to have this flight from Sky Harbor."

British Airways already had brought back daily nonstop flights from Phoenix to London last fall.

The American Airlines flight will depart once a day, at 5:55 p.m. Pacific and arrive in London at 12:10 p.m. GMT. The route also will feature a flight going the other way, leaving London at 9:30 a.m. GMT and arriving at Sky Harbor at 12:35 p.m. Pacific.

Gallego spoke about the economic impact of the flight and about how visitors from the United Kingdom also will be putting money into the local economy.

"This flight is an economic engine for us," Gallego said. "The daily flight has accounted for $140 million in economic impact supporting 2,000 jobs."

Gallego continued: "According to the last economic impact study in 2017, visitors from the UK spent an average of $2,637 (in Arizona). And the good news is that the impact keeps growing because during the pandemic, we added businesses that have invested in Phoenix from the UK, and our businesses have deeper ties with the UK."

Makovsky thanked the mayor and the airlines for helping Sky Harbor ramp up flights again after the pandemic.

"Thanks to Gallego and our airline partners, Sky Harbor is leading the country in terms of passenger recovery with many months on par with 2019, which was the busiest year on record for our airport," Makovsky said.

Condor, a German airline, announced in March that it will be resuming nonstop flights from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Frankfurt, Germany in May.