American Airlines to Launch 3 New Flights to Florida From Philly

One of the routes will even take travelers directly to the sunny Keys, but they’ll have to wait until 2019 for the seasonal service.


American Airlines will launch three new flights from Philadelphia to Florida. Key West, Florida, USA – January 17, 2015: Pedestrians as well as two tourists riding scooters enjoy a warm January day on Duval Street in Key West, Florida. iStock | Joel Carillet

Philadelphia travelers looking to make their way to the Sunshine State during winter months will have more ways to get there from the Philadelphia International Airport, but not until 2019.

American Airlines just announced big plans to begin seasonal service between PHL and three new Florida cities: Melbourne, Sarasota and Key West. The service will launch in January and conclude on September 1.

Once the new flights kick off, American will offer the only non-stop flights from PHL to Florida’s southernmost point, Key West, and to Melbourne, a city just southeast of Orlando on Florida’s central Atlantic coast. Last month, Frontier announced its new Philly to Sarasota service, which begins in December and gives American, PHL’s hub carrier, come competition.

American says the new flights will all operate on Embraer 175 aircraft. PHL announced the following schedule:

  • “The flights to Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) will depart PHL Saturday and Sunday at 8:05 AM, arriving in SRQ at 10:55 AM beginning January 12, giving PHL travelers another direct flight option to the popular Gulf Coast city. The return flight departs SRQ at 11:30 AM, arriving in PHL at 2:30 PM.
  • The flights to Key West International Airport (EYW) and Orlando Melbourne International Airport (MLB) will depart Saturdays starting February 16, giving travelers the only non-stop service from PHL to the southernmost point in the U.S. and the Space Coast, respectively.
  • The PHL – EYW flight departs at 10:30 AM, arriving in Key West at 1:36 PM. The return flight departs Key West at 2:14 PM, arriving in PHL at 5:00 PM. The PHL – MLB flight departs at 8:05 AM, arriving in Melbourne at 10:48 AM. The return flight departs MLB at 11:24 AM, arriving in PHL at 1:55 PM.”

The new flights to Florida are the latest in a stream of new service announcements from American. According to PHL, since the start of the year, the carrier has launched nonstop service to San Antonio, Des Moines, Madison, Omaha, Pensacola, Oklahoma City, Fort Wayne, Budapest, Prague, Zurich and Mexico City. Coming up this year are American flights to Worcester and in 2019, American flights to Edinburgh, Berlin, Bologna and Dubrovnik.