American Airlines will add flights between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Venice, Italy, next summer.
The seasonal daily flights begin May 4 and last through Oct. 27, American said Wednesday. Tickets go on sale Monday.
The Chicago flight is one of three new European routes American will roll out next summer.
Two of the routes will connect Philadelphia to Prague and Budapest, Hungary, which are new destinations for American. The airline currently offers only Venice-bound U.S. flights from Philadelphia, American’s biggest trans-Atlantic hub.
A Chicago-to-Barcelona, Spain, route American launched earlier this summer has been very successful, and American considers Venice a similar market, said airline spokeswoman Leslie Scott.
American said those seasonal routes are easier to offer now that American and US Airways, which merged in 2013, are functioning more like a single, bigger airline.
“Today, we have the resources and ability to move flights and aircraft around the system where there is demand,” American Vice President Franco Tedeschi said in a letter to O’Hare employees Wednesday.
American expects to have much of the work of integrating the airlines’ operations finished by the end of next year, Tedeschi wrote. American also plans to finish building five new gates next year. The gates, in O’Hare’s L concourse, will be used for regional flights, he said.
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