Did American Airlines announce on November 4, 2025 that it would immediately shutdown and cancel flights after 66 years of service? No, that's not true: A news headline reading "American airline abruptly confirms immediate total shutdown" was referring to Kenai Aviation, an Alaskan charter service. American Airlines did announce on November 6, 2025, that it would reduce its "flight schedules by four percent at 40 airports" for several days to comply with an FAA directive. Those two news items apparently merged in some readers' minds creating confusion.
The headline appeared on an article (archived here) where it was published by the-sun.com on November 4, 2025. The headline read:
FLOWN AWAY American airline abruptly confirms immediate total shutdown and cancels flights after 66 years of service
The carrier underwent an expansion just years before it ended operations
This is what the article looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of the-sun.com)
A quick glance at the article might lead a reader to conclude that American Airlines, one of the world's largest passenger airlines was immediately going out of business. The difference between "American airline" and "American Airlines" in a headline can be missed.
Reading the body of the story, however, reveals the story is about "AN American airline" named Kenai Aviation that was closing.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of the-sun.com)
Kenai Aviation (archived here) is not a regular passenger airline, but mainly a charter service. It did offer a regular flight on a small plane that can carry up to nine passengers between Anchorage and Kenai, Alaska.
Another source of confusion was a Facebook page that appears to be connected to the Daily Mail newspaper. A post (archived here) carried the caption:
American Airline announces immediate shutdown after 66 years of service.
The airline has declared itself 'financially insolvent' 🚨 More details: https://trib.al/vHX3S0J
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
Even an American Airlines employee commented that this post fooled him:
LOL, I work for American Airlines and my first thought was, well I don't have to fly tonight!
Lead Stories emailed the Daily Mail to confirm if the Facebook page was officially connected to the newspaper, but we had not received a reply at the time of writing.
An actual American Airlines announcement about flight cancellations related to the ongoing government shutdown may have enhanced the confusion.
The airline said (archived here) on November 6, 2025, that it had "reduced flight schedules by four percent at 40 airports Friday through Monday, amounting to about 220 flights canceled each day" to comply with an FAA directive. There was no mention that it was also going out of business.
