Next year, the airline will make some of the West’s most remote national parks more accessible

American Airlines’ New Routes Will Finally Make It Easier to Visit the National Parks on Your Bucket List
Courtesy Montana Office of Tourism

American Airlines is making it easier to visit the country’s most fantastic national parks in Alaska and Montana with 17 new routes launching next summer.

“National parks are a huge attraction for many families,” Vasu Raja, the airline’s vice president of network and schedule planning, said in a statement on Thursday. “As soon as school’s out next year, our customers will have more than 145 weekly flights to and from Montana to choose from. This summer, we launched three new flights to Glacier National Park in Kalispell, and, next summer, we’re expanding with more service to discover the natural wonders.”

The airline is launching new routes from major metropolises to Fairbanks and Anchorage in Alaska and Bozeman and Kalispell, Montana.

Access to Yellowstone National Park will get much easier next summer with the airline’s new routes to Bozeman. (A drive from the Bozeman airport to Yellowstone National Park is about 1.5 hours.) American Airlines will operate daily service from Los Angeles to Bozeman from June 4 through Sept. 8. Philadelphia and New York City’s LaGuardia airports will start Saturday service to Bozeman from June 6. LaGuardia will also get weekly access to Kalispell (near Glacier National Park) starting June 6.

Fairbanks will be a completely new destination for American Airlines passengers next summer. It is about a two-hour drive from Fairbanks to Denali National Park. Daily flights from Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare will operate to Fairbanks starting May 7 and run through Oct. 6. Daily flights from Chicago to Anchorage will also operate during the same period. From Anchorage, it takes four hours to drive to Denali.

If you’re considering flying to the national parks with American Airlines’ new service next year, considering purchasing the National Park Pass for $80 before you take off on your adventure so you can venture wherever you please without worrying about entrance fees.