American Airlines’ fleet has just reached a pretty cool milestone, though perhaps most interesting is how close all of the ”big three” US carriers are to one another in this regard… sort of.
Continue reading: American Airlines’ 1,000 Aircraft Milestone: How Does That Compare?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Note that DL and UA have a lot of 757s, 767s, to retire soon. Some of the gap will be made up of new orders, but I’d expect UA numbers to come down before they start back up.
Air travel demand seems to be plateauing so I see new orders likely being used to replace aircraft nearing 30 years old. LUS 319, 320, first generation 738, first generation LUS 321 and 772.
UA: 1,049 aircraft, (227 WB), 187 WB/484 NB on order, 15.6 average fleet age
DA: 990 aircraft, (177 WB), 28 WB/244 NB on order, 14.9 average fleet age
AA: 1,000 aircraft, (137 WB), 26 WB/292 NB on order, 14.1 average fleet age
@Pilot93434, not sure about DL, but UA has 25 787s scheduled for delivery over the next 15 months, plus more into 2027 and beyond. Those will be more than enough to cover 767 retirements.
The A321XLRs begin delivery next year, which will cover the 757 retirements.
Those are on top of the continued MAX and A321NEO deliveries that are being delivered by the dozens.
I don’t think the UA fleet numbers will drop by much, if at all.
It is most notable that DL generates the most revenue of the big 3 with the least amount of aircraft while AA with the most regional jets generates the lowest profits.
@Mark the consideration is that UA has 40 B757-200s that have an average age of 28.6 years and 37 B767-300s that have an average age of 29.5 years. Both are showing their age and are very close to their major inspection checks where it will make sense for UA to retire the aircraft. By 2030, you would expect all 77 frames to be retired.
While there will be net growth for UA long-term, the XLR deliveries are delayed to start 2H 2026 optimistically (very likely you’ll see a delay) although the 787 delivery pace is picking up with Boeing.
DL will have a similar situation where the sheer volume of retirements will more than exceed their planned wide body growth unless they place a new order in the next year. They’re having issues certifying their transcon A321neos (rumor is the seat keeps failing certification tests) and the A350-Ks are rumored to be delayed to 2027.
It will be interesting to monitor how things develop. I expect to see a DL and AA wide body order soon in the next year or so.
Like for like UA generates the most passenger revenue - DL generates the most total revenue when you add miscellaneous revenue streams to their credit, but that’s different than sheer flying revenue.
Tim...
Why is it so short. I was expecting 9 paragraphs.
Where's the usual 767 A350 suites SEA fortress profitable earnings call salary TPAC TATL etc.
How can I complete the Tim Dunn bingo card with only one sentence.
I realized that I spend so much time talking about you Tim that I can come up with my own gibberish instead!
I realized that I spend so much time talking about my alt copycat account that I can come up with my own gibberish instead!
Quantity, in the case of U.S. airlines, equates to the exact opposite to quality. The race to the bottom of the world rankings is spearheaded by American, hopefully others will not be tempted to follow.
And yet, Jeremy, UA signed up for the exact same business plan as DL. It has underperformed DL in revenue and profit metrics for years and, because you are unable to admit it and discuss the reasons why, you just cherrypick excuses.
You do realize that UA flies about 10% more ASMs than DL and yet comes nowhere close to generating even 10% more passenger revenue? Your excuse doesn't work.
the point which you and everyone below can't grasp is that size in and of itself means nothing. AA talks about its 2 massive southern US hubs - and yet they are incredibly weak along the northern tier of the US which is why they can't get the nationwide corporate contracts that DL does.
and UA has been so fixated with putting dots on its international route map that it failed to realize that credit card contracts are driven by domestic size, not seasonal narrowbody less than daily to Mongolia or Portuguese islands. UA got the route network it wants - but significantly trails AA and DL in domestic and credit card revenue.
None of it is a mistake.
DL simply understands how to use its assets to generate the most revenue and figured that out as part of its turnaround as part of its chapter 11 and its merger with NW.
DL is not perfect but they figured out things that AA and UA are either just not figuring out or have you to figure out and make work.
it's also worth noting that Delta carries more domestic ASMs on its own metal than any other US airline. DL has the smallest number of regional jets - the complete opposite of AA - and has had the lowest percentage of its network flown by regional jets of the 4 US airlines including AS that have regional jets.
Jeremy says, "I expect to see a DL and AA wide body order soon in the next year or so."
The problem is the 5-6 year lead time for wide body deliveries. Advantage United.
…. and could that be why Delta stands head and shoulders above it’s nearest U.S. competitor Tim? As for American …. it can hardly reach ankle height in comparison with Delta.
Tim, why do you keep equating ASMs to revenue? Profits are determined by costs vs revenue, which determines yields. DL is much bigger than other airlines yet doesn’t similarly outsized revenue or profits than them.
Absolutely. And I would add Alaska Airlines into the quality US carriers. American has a lot of work do do to even get to passable. IMHO
What is the logic behind AA having so many both A320 family and 737 family aircraft? Don't they both require different type ratings for pilots and crew, and different stores of spare parts?