American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) is reported to be nearing a deal for about 100 narrowbody jets, a mix of A321neo and B737-8s, while also considering placing an order for the A350 as a replacement for the B777-200ER.
The 100 narrowbody order would be split between Airbus and Boeing, Bloomberg News reported, with the European manufacturer potentially securing a greater share of the airframes. The deal could be announced during the company’s investor meeting in early March, it added.
The carrier previously had an A350 order inherited from its merger with US Airways. However, it cancelled it, focusing instead on having a more compact widebody fleet composed exclusively of Boeing-manufactured jets. It also operates fifteen A330-200s, but they are all inactive after being taken out of commercial service during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Looking beyond 2024, we continue to review our medium- and long-term fleet needs, and we are currently engaged with Boeing and Airbus for narrowbody aircraft deliveries in the latter half of this decade and beyond,” Devon May, the carrier's chief financial officer, said in October 2023.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that the American Airlines fleet comprises 1,002 aircraft, including 133 A319-100s, forty-eight A320-200s, 218 A321-200s, ten A321-200Ns, seventy A321-200NX, fifteen A330-200s, fifty-nine B737-8s, 303 B737-800s, forty-seven B777-200ERs, twenty B777-300ERs, thirty-seven B787-8s, twenty-two B787-9s, as well as twenty inactive MD-83s.
It still has on order 162 future aircraft, including four A321-200NX, fifty A321-200NY(XLR)s, seventy-one B737-8s, twenty-five B787-9s, and twelve E175s.
ch-aviation has reached out to American Airlines for comment.
