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.
In this post:
American’s mainline fleet now has 1,000 aircraft
American has just received its 1,000th mainline aircraft. Specifically, the 1,000th plane was one of American’s brand new Boeing 787-9s, in a premium configuration, featuring the carrier’s new business class. Since April, the airline has received eight premium 787-9s, of the total of 30 of these that it has on order.
American provided a cool fleet fact sheet for this occasion, breaking down how the carrier’s fleet is evolving. A few things stand out:
- American really had very little fleet growth in 2023 and 2024, as it ended 2023 with 965 planes, and ended 2024 with 977 planes
- American expects to end 2025 with 1,014 planes, and that growth is through delivery of new Airbus A321XLRs and Boeing 787-9s, as well as a substantial number of additional Boeing 737 MAX 8s (yay?)
- These numbers don’t include American’s massive regional jet fleet, which consists of well over 500 planes
- American still has over 400 planes on order between its mainline and regional jet fleet, though over time we’ll also see previous generation aircraft retired, so that won’t just be used for growth, but also for renewal
How does the fleet size compare to Delta & United?
The “big three” US carriers are all roughly comparable in terms of size, so how does American’s milestone compare to what you’ll find at Delta and United?
At the beginning of 2025, United became the world’s largest airline in terms of fleet size, as the airline took delivery of its 1,000th aircraft, overtaking American. So that means United beat American to this achievement by several months. United has been growing considerably in recent years, and there are no signs of that stopping, so I trust that United will continue to be larger than American.
What about Delta? Well, the airline is just trailing American in terms of mainline fleet size, and currently has 990 planes, so it should pass the (premium) 1,000-aircraft threshold very soon.
It is interesting to note the difference in regional fleets between the airlines, depending on how you want to factor that into the math. American Eagle is the largest regional carrier by a pretty healthy margin. Delta Connection has around 340 planes, United Express has around 460 planes, and American Eagle has around 550 planes.
Bottom line
American Airlines’ mainline fleet now consists of 1,000 aircraft, which is a cool milestone. United reached this milestone earlier in the year, marking the first time in a very long time that United had more planes than American. Meanwhile Delta should reach this milestone soon.
Of course let me emphasize that the number of aircraft in the mainline fleet is only one of many metrics to judge airline size. You could also judge size based on the total number of seats in the fleet, the number of passengers carried, the number of air seat miles offered, etc.
What do you make of American’s 1,000-plane milestone?
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.
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!
Is that because Delta is the world's only PERFECT airline? LOL
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
I've noticed this too - AA has by far the lowest percentage of widebodies.
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.
Oh lord.
Please elaborate.
Please copy alt account.
Yes I am an alt spamming troll
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.
@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.
@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...
@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.