american airlines currently operates over 900 aircraft making it the number one
american carrier the fort worth-based carrier is also the world's most significant airline in many
other areas such as revenue passengers flown and passenger kilometers flown
with a fleet this big american airlines is the largest in the world let's take
a look at the aircraft in its fleet as well as its plans for the future
american airlines operates a large and diverse fleet to support its fast network but the
pandemic has forced some consolidation at the airline it now only flies four aircraft families
but even then it still has 904 planes in its fleet out to those aircraft 446 are airbus aircraft
all from the a320 family american operates the a319 the a320 and the a321 the airline has a fleet
of 133 a319 100s these aircraft have an average age of 17.9 years old alongside these are 48 of
the larger a320 200 these have an average age of 20.9 years finally american has 265 airbus a321s
in its fleet 218 of these are the a321 200 and 47 of the a321 neo the youngest aircraft in its fleet
have an average age of 1.4 years old while airbus has a presence in the aa fleet so too does boeing
the remaining 458 airplanes are from the us-based manufacturer and it has three types the 737s
the triple sevens and the 787s the 737s come in two variants the 800 and the 737 max 8.
the 737s have an average age of 12.3 years but still provide the most capacity for the airline
in all it operates examples the 737 max 8 however is one of the youngest boeings in the fleet with
an average age of only three years old across the 42 plains moving to the triple sevens there are
two different variants of this family as well the veteran of the airlines fleet is the triple seven
200 with 21.2 years of age on average across 47 planes the triple 7 300 er fleet is smaller and
younger with only 20 aircraft and an average age of 8.1 years to finish our list we have the newest
family of planes with an average age of only five years the boeing 787 dreamliners american airlines
has 46 streamliners in operation in total 24 of which are the 7878 variant and 22 of the 7879
over the years american has reduced the number of wide bodies in service pushing for longer
flights with narrow bodies today only 13 percent of the fleet are twin aisle jets
which are deployed on long-haul services and key domestic transcontinental routes
as of early 2022 the airline has consolidated some of its fleet and has removed some aircraft
types having finished 2021 with over 46 billion dollars of debt and lease liabilities that's
understandable the carrier has said goodbye to its boeing 767s 757s and its airbus a330s replacing
them with newer more efficient alternatives the end result is that the airline has gone
from eight families of aircraft to only four in an interview with simple flying chief revenue officer
vasu raju revealed that those types of planes were mainly used for opportunistic long-haul flying
on routes that may not otherwise make sense with a newer more expensive aircraft the pandemic
downturn meant less of this type of activity was undertaken therefore the aircraft were redundant
it's known that south west airlines is an efficient airline operating an all-boeing
737 fleet the carrier can standardize pilot operations better handle aircraft swaps and reduce
maintenance inefficiencies while american wouldn't be able to consolidate to just one aircraft family
the simplification of the fleet gives it significant benefits through reducing the number
of subtypes it operates robert issum the president of american airlines has stated that the airline
is now seeking efficiency and american has gone from 50 subfleets down to 23 over the course of
the last 5 years in its pursuit for efficiency american is experimenting with its strategies
one of these is the harmonization of the boeing 737s and the airbus a320 bonds this means that
those aircraft are being retrofitted with a new interior even though retrofits are expensive in
the long term this will benefit the carrier from a cost and an operational perspective for example
the 737 800 will be getting the same configuration on the inside as a 737 max 8. moving from 160 to
172 seat setting on the retrofitted version there will be 16 recliner type seats in first class
and 30 main cabin extra seats the standard economy will be denser going from 114 seats to 126.
the airbus a321 is also getting a few extra seats previously these aircraft would have 181 to 187
seats but the retrofitted version will have 190 20 of these seats are recliner type in a 2-2
configuration then there are 29 main cabin extra seats and 141 main cabin seats the airplane will
also be fitted with wi-fi so passengers can watch entertainment on their own devices all
of these changes can help the airline to earn some additional revenue with people ready to fly again
larger capacity aircraft can be useful and help to strengthen the airline's financial position
another goal for the carrier to get back on track stronger and more efficient is to maintain
a younger fleet by retiring the older planes the airline saves money on maintenance and fuel
with the ungrounding of the max they can replace some older 737s and a320s also the delivery of new
787s will replace some of the a330 and 767 capacity lost and enable some triple seven
200 ers to be retired the 787s offer additional options in cabin classes as they have a premium
economy class this is a good middle ground for those who want something between extra legroom
economy and business class in addition the 787 will also be offering all passengers on demand
entertainment through seat back screens these new efficient aircraft will drive down the cost
of fuel and maintenance and the customers can appreciate the comfort that new technology offers
as for the future american airlines has a lot to expect and with the new additions to
the fleet new opportunities will be open the airline will be getting thirteen seven eight
seven eights and thirty seven eight seven nines as well as eighty eight seven three seven max
eights but the deliveries of the dreamliners are delayed due to production issues deliveries of
the max were scheduled for 2021 and 2022 will now happen in 2023 and 2024 as both companies agreed
on the deferral of 18737 maxes the agreement happened so americans could save money when facing
a massive loss of billions of dollars however this agreement will ensure that the airline will be
able to compete in the international market in the cheapest way for other deliveries american
is looking forward to 22 new airbus a321 neos and 50 a321 xlrs the new airbus a321 xlr comes
to replace the aging boeing 757s the airbus has an 800 extra nautical mile range over its predecessor
and a higher capacity as well up to 200 passengers in a two or three class layout some speculation
also indicates that because of the unique routes that the a321 xlr might be flying
american airlines might choose to add another premium category of seats to take advantage of
the long flight times the entry into service of the airbus is still yet to come as commercial
aviation is recovering from the worldwide crisis the first a321 xlrs will begin delivering in 2023.
what do you think about american airlines current fleet and the upcoming one let
us know in the comments simple flying publishes over 150 articles every week
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