American Airlines boosting flights in July

American Airlines plans to boost its U.S. flights in July after drastic cuts over the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier said Thursday.

The airline is set to fly more than 55 percent of its July 2019 schedule next month, though only about one-fifth of its international schedule from the same period, American announced.

The numbers are a significant increase from May, when the carrier flew only 20 percent of its domestic flights, and this month, when it is set to fly about 25 percent, senior vice president of strategy Vasu Raja told Reuters.

On peak days in July, the airline plans to fly just over 4,000 flights, up from under 2,000 on peak days in May, Raja told the news service, although both are a steep drop from some 6,800 daily flights before the pandemic began. The company plans to fly a total of 40 percent of July 2019 capacity next month.

The carrier will join other airlines in adding new deep-cleaning procedures and requiring masks on board, both to prevent the spread of the virus and to restore a measure of consumer confidence.

American also plans to increase its flights from airports in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and add flights from Charlotte and the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Reuters reported, as well as boosting flights to the Gulf Coast, Florida cities and mountain destinations to take advantage of the gradual reopening of outdoor recreation and tourism spots in the summer months.

It also plans to resume services to a number of European and Latin American destinations in August but resuming flights to Rio de Janeiro from Miami earlier, on July 7.