American Airlines will continue expanding its domestic and international service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) this winter, further strengthening one of its key hubs and providing more access for customers across its growing global network. On the domestic front the carrier will introduce twice daily flights to San Antonio from October 2, 2014 and a daily link to Tampa from November 6, 2014, while a daily international service to Edmonton and twice daily offering to Vancouver, both in Canada, will also start on October 2, 2014.

The US major will use mainline equipment for the Los Angeles – Tampa route operating a two-class Boeing 737-800 but the other three markets will be served under the US Airways Express umbrella with regional partner Mesa Airlines utilising Bombardier CRJ900s on the domestic and international routes.

This latest network expansion will see American Airlines compete directly with Delta Air Lines on the Tampa route and will mark its return to the Los Angeles – San Antonio city pair, a route it last served in September 2008 and currently flown by SkyWest Airlines for United Airlines and low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines. The Los Angeles – Edmonton market will end the existing WestJet Airlines monopoly on the route, while the ‘AA’ code will join Air Canada rouge, Alaska Airlines, SkyWest Airlines for United Airlines and WestJet Airlines on flights between Los Angeles and Vancouver.

With these new markets, American will serve 53 domestic and international destinations from its Los Angeles International Airport hub and passengers will have onward access to further connecting markets through its partners British Airways, Iberia, Qantas, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Cathay Pacific and LAN Airlines.

"Providing service from Los Angeles to these destinations strengthens our Los Angeles International Airport hub which plays a vital role in our domestic and international network strategy," said Chuck Schubert, vice president - network and schedule planning, American Airlines.

"As we continue work to integrate our two great global networks, we are committed to growing our presence in our hubs to offer customers the most convenient access to the most important global business and leisure destinations," he added.

In our analysis, below, we look at annual seat capacity at Los Angeles International Airport by published carrier. The data shows that American Airlines is the second largest carrier at the west coast US airport behind United Airlines but has seen its share of available annual seats rise from 16.0 per cent in 2004 to 16.9 per cent in 2012 and 2013. However, when you integrate the 2013 networks of American Airlines and US Airways it takes the number one position with a 19.6 per cent capacity share.