American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) now expects to take delivery of 22 new mainline aircraft down from its previous estimate of 29, Devon E May, the company’s chief financial officer, revealed during a first-quarter investors call.
Anticipated deliveries for the year now include sixteen B737-8s, three B787-9s, and three A321-200NX whereas previous guidance had also included four more B737-8s and three more B787-9s.
The ch-aviation fleets module shows that American Airlines has so far taken delivery of two aircraft in 2024, both of them A321neo. Additionally, it expects delivery of twelve new E175s in 2024, which will be operated by its wholly-owned regional carriers, namely Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines, and PSA Airlines.
American’s previous guidance, published during the company’s JP Morgan Industrials Conference on March 12, included the reception of 35 new mainline aircraft in 2025, 35 in 2026, 36 in 2027, 39 in 2028, and 164 from 2029 onwards. It is expected to add between twelve and thirty E175s per year in this span. The company did not update its expected future deliveries in its first quarter of 2024 results.
The airline has experienced delivery delays across manufacturers due to issues such as regulatory restrictions on production rate increases (in the case of Boeing), supply chain limitations, development delays, and other factors. All of these have created significant problems in planning its fleet, and are likely to continue, it said.
As a result of the capacity deficit, AA has opted to suspend some routes this summer, such as from New York JFK to Athens and Barcelona El Prat, from Dallas/Fort Worth to Rome Fiumicino and Dublin International, and from Chicago O'Hare to Paris CDG.
Due to Boeing's ongoing quality issues, carriers including United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have also revised their expected deliveries for this year. According to May, “while Boeing delivery delays have impacted mainline capacity production, they have been largely offset by improvements in our regional aircraft utilisation. Aircraft delivery delays are impacting the entire industry, but they are not having the same impact on American as other carriers since we are not as dependent on new aircraft deliveries as most of our peers.”
