American, Delta and United are all expanding across the Atlantic for 2027, and the combined list is one of the most interesting transatlantic shake-ups in years. Aviation analytics firm Cirium's data shows 24 new nonstop routes between them, with United taking the biggest share and some genuinely unexpected cities on the board.

United leads with 12 new routes, half of the total. Newark gets the lion's share: nonstop flights to Catania, Ibiza, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Marseille, Olbia in Sardinia, Portugal's Azores and Valencia. There's also Denver to Paris, Washington Dulles to both Milan and Toulouse, and San Francisco to Tel Aviv. Many of the smaller European cities will be flown in summer 2027 on United's Airbus A321XLR, configured with 20 Polaris suites and 12 Premium Plus seats — 16 more premium seats than the 757s these routes effectively replace. For travellers, that means lie-flat business class on thin routes to places like Luxembourg and Valencia, which rarely see US nonstops.

American adds seven routes. Three leave New York JFK — to Nice, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv — while Philadelphia gains Reykjavik, Porto and Vienna. Charlotte gets a nonstop to Barcelona. Two of these are firsts for the airline: Porto and Vienna, and American will be the only US carrier serving Vienna once the route starts. It's scheduled to run into early January 2028, which neatly covers Vienna's famous Christmas markets — a rare chance to fly there nonstop from Philadelphia in winter.

Delta has five routes, including Boston to Reykjavik and Venice, Detroit to Athens, and Austin to Paris — Austin's first ever nonstop to Charles de Gaulle, with onward one-stop access to 70 more destinations via Air France-KLM across Europe, India and Africa, flown on four-class A330-900neos. The headline-grabber, though, is Atlanta to Riyadh. Originally slated for October 2026, the launch has been pushed back to March 2027 amid regional tensions, and Delta has not yet said how it will judge when it's safe to begin.

Why should holidaymakers care? Because nonstop service to secondary cities usually means better fares and easier trips. If you've been pricing multi-stop itineraries to Sardinia, the Azores, Slovenia or Porto, chances are a single direct flight from the US East Coast will now do the job. And the A321XLR era is making these thinner routes viable with proper premium cabins, not just recliner seats. If Vienna at Christmas, a summer in Ibiza or a first direct Austin-to-Paris hop appeals, 2027 is the year to book — earlier rather than later, since inaugural routes often launch with intro fares that disappear once the schedule fills.

For now, treat the timing as indicative: Riyadh's delay shows these schedules can still move, so check exact start dates before locking in hotels.