American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) is in discussions with both Airbus and Boeing about a large narrowbody order covering the carrier's fleet requirements in the second half of the 2020s and the 2030s.
"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," Chief Financial Officer Devon May said during a recent quarterly earnings call.
The airline's present-day narrowbody fleet comprises 133 A319-100s, forty-eight A320-200s, 218 A321-200s, seventy A321-200NX, fifty-five B737-8s, and 303 B737-800s. It has a further four A321-200NX and seventy-five B737-8s on order. Four more narrowbodies will deliver by the end of 2023, followed by two more delayed until early 2024.
American also recently acquired ten A321-200NX from Alaska Airlines (AS, Seattle Tacoma International), deliveries of which are expected by the first quarter of 2024.
"Due to the young age of our fleet, we do not have any planned aircraft retirements this decade... We are very pleased to have built our fleet in a low-interest rate environment and at a time when the supply chain wasn't as challenged as it is today," May stressed.
American Airlines also has fifty A321-200NY(XLR)s on order from Airbus. It currently expects the first delivery of the delayed new variant in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the order stream picking up in 2025 and 2026.
