American Airlines Extends Charlotte To Honolulu Flight

I travel between Honolulu and Charlotte about 6 times per year. I am already booked on this flight next month and really looking forward to flying right over all those hubs I used to have to connect in. I was very happy to see the route has recently been extended to run longer than originally planned as I plan to take it each time I go as long as it exists. Also, with the state's current 72 hour testing requirement, not connecting anywhere takes some of the anxiety of a missed connection out of the travel equation. Aloha!

It's been a pleasure to chat w/ you, Radio. The industry is indeed recovering, Delta kicks off the earnings season, and AAL's cash burn update on top of what DAL and UAL shared is very encouraging, esp. since the longhaul international market still needs to reopen - and when it does all of the big 3 will get a boost in revenue bigger than other carriers. Let's keep our fingers crossed that AA is able to make the CLT-HNL flight work and to narrow its forecast losses which it also put it in its updated guidance. If AA's desire is to make CLT a competitive international/longhaul gateway, then it would seem that using more fuel efficient aircraft would be a big win. The 777-200ER does best to/from S. America esp. from MIA where the plane sits for long periods as any aircraft would flying those routes and the 777-200ER has abundant cargo capabilities. all the best.

@Tim, As usual, you raise some good points. But I don't see American establishing a crew base at Charlotte just to service one 787 flight to Honolulu. And as the 8K suggested, American's 777s aren't going anywhere, so it's pretty much stuck with them for a while. Since the flight in question is being extended, it must be performing reasonably well, in spite of American's higher unit costs. American retired its A330s. If their performance and other costs were as superior to the 777 as you allege (the A330-200s were relatively new), why did American retire them? Fleet simplification. That concept seems to work pretty well for Southwest, which ordered 737s instead of A220s in spite of the 737s higher fuel consumption. To reiterate my original point, there are factors other than fuel burn that contribute to airline decisions. Today's 8K also noted, "Excluding approximately $8 million per day of regular debt principal and cash severance payments made, the Company’s (American's) cash burn rate turned positive in March." I know, it's not 100% cash flow positive, and $8 million per day is $8 million per day ($240 million per month), but given American's debt levels, it's a step in the right direction. If this was 2008, how many U.S. carriers would have filed for Chapter 11 by now? I'm guessing all of them. Of course, there's no way to know. But none have filed for Chapter 11 thus far. That's a sign of how much healthier the entire industry is in spite of high debt levels, stock buybacks, and dividends. I hope Delta's earnings report this week is positive. That's good for the entire industry.

Fuel burn data is easily obtainable on a generalized basis. DOT fuel burn data is specific to each airline and also provides enough data to calculate based on how each airline uses its fleets. AA's use of the 777-200ER on CLT-HNL is pretty close to the average stage length for that aircraft - if not slightly longer. If the 777-200ER was a competitive aircraft, Boeing would still be selling it. Instead, they are selling 787s. American itself just today announced that it is converting some 787-8 orders to 787-9s. There are very few 787-8 orders outstanding, just as there are very few A330-800 orders; larger, new generation aircraft are most fuel and labor efficient but have higher ownership costs. AAL's 777-200s might have lower ownership costs (they might not too) but it is absolutely a legitimate question as to why AA put is least fuel efficient aircraft on a new route that is also the longest AA will operate to Hawaii. I don't believe AA uses its 787s out of CLT which raises the question of why AA can't figure out how to get its assets into the places where they can generate the best returns. On a per seat basis, both the A330s and 767s that American retired had lower total operating costs. Longer flights generate the greatest opportunity for fuel efficiency and lower costs. I understand that not every older aircraft can be disposed of as soon as it is surpassed by something that is more efficient but S. America with its double overnight flights is the best use of 777-200ERs. Again, I'm not sure how a comment about AA's choice of aircraft for this flight turned into a parsing of my online participation when it is clear that the facts I presented are accurate and they will ultimately have to be addressed or AA will be much less profitable to Hawaii than its peers - at least on that flight - if at all. Again, the fuel burn I cited was submitted to the DOT by American Airlines. And, AA still has the highest unit costs in the industry so they automatically are going to be working from a much more difficult place in making leisure flights like this work.

@Julie, I'm quite aware of Tim's situation. In fairness to him, he often makes very good points. I've observed that Tim is a bit of a zealous Delta fanboy (who may have worked for the airline in the past) who thinks his favorite airline can do no wrong, and American can do nothing right. That's about what it boils down to. He's not alone. There are lots of aviation geeks like that. By virtually all measures, Delta is a very well-run airline, but that doesn't make it perfect. No company is. I've also observed that Tim has a tendency, which is becoming more and more common nowadays, to conflate fact and opinion. To that point, the DOT numbers are factual - as far as they go - but taken out of context, don't always paint a complete or accurate picture. A case in point regarding fuel burn: Southwest recently ordered 100 737-MAX7s, when the "conventional" fuel burn wisdom "mandated" that it order the A220, a fanboy favorite (and apparently a great aircraft). Southwest opted for fleet simplicity over fuel burn. That tells you that there are factors other than fuel burn that affect airlines' decisions.