PHOTO COURTESY BLUE SKY NEWS/PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

[Updated Dec. 16, 2024: This story adds the announcement that American will start daily, nonstop flights to LA in the spring. The original story was published Dec. 3, 2024.] 

Nonstop flights from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles have been a key asset in supporting TV and movie productions in the Steel City, but those flights have not always been available. The lack of nonstop flights has made trips back and forth cumbersome for cast and crew.

Now two airlines have announced a return to nonstop flights to the City of Angels.

American on Dec. 16 announced it will begin daily nonstop flights between Pittsburgh International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) year-round starting April 4. Here’s the schedule:

• Flight AA814 will depart from LAX at 9 a.m. Pacific Time and arrive at PIT at 4:37 p.m. Eastern Time.
• Flight AA814 will depart from PIT at 5:57 p.m. ET and arrive at LAX at 8:05 p.m. PT.

The last time that American had offered nonstop flights was eight years ago.   The new flight with the larger 737-800 will add over a third more capacity and double the number of first class seats over the Airbus A319 that American flew in 2017.

Breeze Airways  has moved up the return of its seasonal flights from Pittsburgh International Airport to LAX to March 12. It had been scheduled to start May 2.

And the carrier will be increasing its twice-weekly flights to three times a week, and up to five times a week by early June. Next summer, Breeze will fly nonstop every day except Monday and Friday of each week, according to Blue Sky News, the news service for PIT.

Breeze first began service between PIT and LAX in September 2023.

In another route to the West Coast, Breeze will begin nonstop flights from PIT to San Diego on May 2. They will be available Monday and Friday.

Breeze and Southwest Airlines both added nonstop service between PIT and San Diego last year for the first time. Southwest resumes those flights on Saturdays, beginning June 7. Before last year, there had been no nonstop flights between the cities for five years; San Diego is considered a major business and leisure travel market.

In another addition, Breeze will expand nonstop service to Portland, Maine, starting on May 1. It will add Tuesday flights to its existing Sunday and Thursday service.

Breeze was created by former JetBlue and WestJet founder David Neeleman, according to Blue Sky News, and first started serving PIT in 2021 with four destinations. It now offers 11 destinations from PIT.