American Airlines will move its flight operations to the new Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX), considered the world’s biggest airport, when service returns from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) on 27 March 2021. Flights will operate on a Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner, a press release confirmed. 

 The Texas-based carrier said its cargo-only flights to Beijing Capital International Airport will continue through March. 

On a statement to news outlet FreightWaves, spokeswoman Laura Bassel said it is still too early to determine how the return of passenger service to Beijing may impact American’s cargo-only operations in March. “That will depend on the demand at that time, but either way all of our flying would move to PKX [Beijing Daxing].”

American Airlines operates two daily auxiliary freighters on a Boeing 787-900 to Beijing—one from Los Angeles (LAX) and one from DFW both via Seoul (ICN). 

The carrier has flown 174 dedicated cargo flights to Beijing through 7 October, counting 2,992 cargo-only flights overall since March. 

Beijing’s PKX has four runways and a terminal that ensures travellers are at the gate no more than eight minutes, making it easier for American flyers to catch connecting flights with codeshare partner China Southern for flights beyond PKX.  

“Moving to Daxing International Airport in Beijing when flights return in March is going to offer our customers access to a state-of-the-art airport, with ease of connections as we plan to codeshare with our strategic partner, China Southern,” said Vasu Raja, American’s chief revenue officer.