American Airlines is significantly scaling back its long haul summer schedule due to delays with newly delivered Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Let’s go over the details.
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American is experiencing Boeing 787 delays
While American Airlines already has a large fleet of Boeing 787-8s and Boeing 787-9s, the airline has many more of these planes on order. American’s next Boeing 787s to be delivered are 13 Boeing 787-8s, with the 787-8 being the smallest Dreamliner variant.
Unfortunately Boeing hasn’t been able to deliver these planes with the promised timeline. Apparently there are production flaws, including gaps between panels of the carbon-composite fuselage (oh, Boeing…).
American expected to take delivery of all remaining Boeing 787-8s in 2022, but the airline now expects to receive only 10 of these planes in 2022, and the remaining three aircraft in 2023. Unfortunately these delays seem to be “rolling,” so it’s anyone’s guess when American will actually get them.
On the plus side, American will receive compensation from Boeing for these delivery delays, which should cover most of the losses incurred from not being able to fly these planes. American states in a memo to employees that the airline still has “tremendous confidence in the aircraft and will continue to work with Boeing on their delivery.”
American trims summer 2022 long haul routes
American is having to make plans based on these planes having delayed deliveries, as the airline starts to finalize its summer 2022 schedule (which is where long haul flying is most in demand). American is now proactively reducing the summer 2022 flying schedule. Here are the routes that will have a delayed launch, will be suspended, or will be greatly reduced:
- Dallas to Tel Aviv (new route, now launching October 31, 2022)
- Dallas to Santiago (existing route, suspended until October 29, 2022)
- Los Angeles to Sydney (existing route, suspended until October 29, 2022)
- Miami to Sao Paulo (existing route, will be reduced to once daily service)
- Seattle to London (existing route, suspended until October 29, 2022)
It’s worth emphasizing that most of these routes weren’t actually scheduled to be operated by Boeing 787-8s. Rather American is having to prioritize long haul routes based on the reality that the airline won’t have sufficient aircraft.
While some of these routes were scheduled to be operated by 777s, presumably those 777s will now be used on other routes where American hoped to use the new 787-8s.
During the pandemic, American was aggressive about retiring its long haul aircraft, including Boeing 757s, Boeing 767s, and Airbus A330s. One has to wonder if American isn’t at this point regretting cutting at least some of those planes, given how the Boeing 787 situation has unfolded.
Bottom line
American Airlines is continuing to experience Boeing 787 delivery delays, and the airline won’t get all 13 new Boeing 787-8s that were expected this year. As a result, American has reduced its summer 2022 flying schedule, including cutting several long haul routes.
Unfortunately the issues with the 787 seem to very much be a rolling delay, so it’s anyone’s guess for how much longer American will have to make cuts.
What do you make of American’s long haul flight cancelations?
I'll be very surprised if both AA and DL SEA-LNR come back. BA was already doing 10x weekly and Virgin at least 7 then daily from AA and DL didn't make much sense.
Dallas to Tel Aviv. The wind changes direction and this route continues to get deprioitized. I suspect this route never is going to take flight.
My chances on clearing a vip upgrade between Dfw and hnl on the 772 just went up.
American Airlines is making excuses. They're still in possession of their retired aircraft, so they can bring some of them back into service much like other airlines have. The problem is, those old aircraft have outdated, unappealing interiors, and since they're collecting revenue on flights not being operated, it makes more sense continue milking the Boeing cow
I understand American retiring the 757 and 767 fleets. But I still can't figure out retiring the A330s - especially the newer -200 versions. AA originally planned to place these planes in long term storage then decided to retire them.
Retiring the 757s makes sense, but not the versatile 767s. And the truly ancient A320s still roam the skies for AA. Easily the most dated aircraft. I just rode one ABQ to PHX; even a short flight is unpleasant. I would argue that the ORD/PHX corridor would warrant a return of at least one daily 787 flight.
@upstater Are your referring to “accountants” when you use the word accounts ?
What’s happened to CLT-HNL?
CLT-HNL ended in January 2022 as planned. It was just a temporary route using a wide body that in normal times would have been on international flights. I'm glad that my wife and I were able to fly it in October.
AA also ended ORD-HNL with no plans it seems to resume it this summer. Lack of aircraft, profitability, whatever the reason may be, it has given DL breathing room and confidence to add East Coadt- Hawaii services.
Initially not a temporary route, it was a huge loser in terms of revenue. This happened with USAIRWAYS when they tried to fly it on their 767-200. CLT is a domestic hub that does not do well with long haul routes. With AA in short supply of wide bodies, it was a wise decision to cut the route.
Boeing should pay AA for the training and prep costs to bring back the A330-200's for the summer schedule. While Boeing is apparently paying AA for not having the 788's as promised, the schedule cuts inconvenience AA's customers who have had trips cancelled.
Would the former A330 crews still be certified? Are they even still employed or did they get cross-trained to 777/787? Have the aircraft been sold or scrapped?
The big 'bus was great for pax ex vs the squashed-together 10/9-abreast of the Boeings.
They eliminated all but one of the wide bodies going LAX-MIA starting late March.
I have 3 oftrips going from lie flat to A321 Neo. Outbound flagship is now a redeye.
This is what happened to a jewel of industry that had been run by engineers with an experienced unionized workforce. The accounts took over, financialized everything and systematically gutted expertise. Moving 787 production to Charleston and starting with a brand new workforce was something that only an account could appreciate. the. 737Max is another symptom. I flew on a 787-8 where the entertainment system failed, with actual smoke and smells in the business class cabin....
This is what happened to a jewel of industry that had been run by engineers with an experienced unionized workforce. The accounts took over, financialized everything and systematically gutted expertise. Moving 787 production to Charleston and starting with a brand new workforce was something that only an account could appreciate. the. 737Max is another symptom. I flew on a 787-8 where the entertainment system failed, with actual smoke and smells in the business class cabin. Everything was shutdown, what ever seat position you had stayed until descent, when they were manually returned to position. The executives and hedgies were happy with 40 billion in buybacks. 346 people died on the 737Max and I try to avoid flying on Boeings.
Have to wonder if the cost in compensation to airlines, reputation, and customer confidence still outweigh whatever money Boeing hoped to save by moving manufacturing to unskilled labor in South Carolina
"unskilled labor in South Carolina"...hilarious lack of intelligence.
American. Rolling delays. This sounds familiar.
Rolling delays? That's how thier ops rolls anyway.
Business as usual.
It is so ironic that American is so frustrated with rolling delays…..and just wants to know when the deliveries will actually happen.
Kinda like every single passenger who has a delayed flight with AA and just wants the truth in real time.
Also ironic that AA is being compensated for the delays unlike their own passengers.