American Boeing 777-300ER Retrofits: Fancy New Cabins, At A Cost

American Airlines soon plans to roll out a new passenger experience on long haul flights, as the airline introduces its new Flagship Suite business class, and front-row Flagship Suite Preferred. While this product will be offered on newly delivered Boeing 787-9s (which should start to be delivered in the coming weeks), we’re also going to see existing Boeing 777-300ERs reconfigured.

There’s now an interesting update, as the timeline for the first 777 to be reconfigured has been moved forward. It was initially supposed to happen after the peak summer travel season, but the first jet will now go into the shop in May 2025, as reported by @xJonNYC. Let’s cover all the details.

American will retrofit Boeing 777s as of May 2025

American has a fleet of 20 Boeing 777-300ERs, and these are the only existing wide body planes that American has firm plans to reconfigure with new interiors. This is partly because they’re used for the carrier’s most premium routes, and also because they feature first class, which is a cabin that American is eliminating.

American had first planned to start reconfiguring 777-300ERs as of September 2024, but that project was delayed. The updated plan was to start reconfiguring 777s after the 2025 peak summer season. Now the latest update is that the first 777 will be reconfigured in the coming weeks, as of May 2025.

Even once that project starts, you can expect it to be quite slow at first, given the need for the aircraft to be certified with new interiors. So I’d expect it to be after the peak summer travel season when the first 777-300ER with new interiors is flying. Still, it’s kind of surprising to see American take a 777 out of service ahead of the summer period, since you’d think American would want as many planes as possible flying then.

Once the project starts, American’s Boeing 777-300ER retrofit project will be known as “Olympus” (similar to how the airline referred to its 737-800 retrofit project as “Oasis”).

American’s updated Boeing 777-300ER configuration

When American reconfigures its Boeing 777-300ERs, how will the seat count change? @xJonNYC has a seat map of what the reconfigured aircraft will look like, which tell us a lot.

For context, currently American’s 777-300ERs feature 304 seats, comprised of:

• Eight first class seats
• 52 business class seats
• 28 premium economy seats
• 216 economy seats

Once reconfigured, American’s 777-300ERs will feature 330 seats, comprised of:

• 70 business class seats
• 44 premium economy seats
• 216 economy seats

As you can see, the jet will be losing eight first class seats, but will be gaining 18 business class seats and 16 premium economy seats, all while economy capacity stays the same.

On the surface, it’s almost puzzling how the plane could be reconfigured so efficiently. Trading eight first class seats for 18 business class seats and 16 premium economy seats is a heck of a “deal.” Essentially what’s going on is that we’re seeing a slight improvement in efficiency just about everywhere. You can find the current 777-300ER seat map here, and the new 777-300ER seat map here, if you want to compare the two.

Just to highlight some of the main efficiency gains, starting from the front and moving back:

• The forward lavatories will both be right by the flight deck, rather than one being a bit further back; this won’t be great for when the pilots need to use the lavatory, and the galley is blocked off
• The second set of doors will continue to have two lavatories, but the walk-up bar is being eliminated, and there will just be a galley there
• The third set of doors will go from having four lavatories to two, and it’s not clear if those two lavatories will be dedicated to business class or premium economy
• The fourth set of doors are going from having two lavatories to zero lavatories
• The fifth set of doors are going from having two lavatories to three lavatories, but the size of the galley is being reduced considerably
• Business class is going from 43″ of pitch to 42″ of pitch, while Main Cabin Extra is going from 35″ of pitch to 34″ of pitch

Crews will probably hate working these planes, given the huge reduction in galley space. Meanwhile many passengers will be delighted by there being 70 business class seats — that’s fantastic for upgrades, as that’s way more business class capacity than we’ve seen on any plane up until now.

Just to compare this to the only other US airline flying this jet, United’s 777-300ERs feature 350 seats, including 60 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 266 economy seats. So United has 50 more economy seats, but 10 fewer business class seats and 20 fewer premium economy seats.

When will American eliminate international first class?

American has plans to eliminate its international first class product, instead introducing an improved business class, plus a new front row premium business class experience. The timeline for that change is expected to coincide with the 777 retrofit project being materially underway.

The initial plan was to eliminate first class as of late 2024, though with the retrofits being delayed, I suspect that means that first class will also live on for most of 2025.

Presumably there will be some period where American stops selling first class, but continues to offer the hard product on some planes, and will just seat some business class passengers here. After all, the 20 777-300ERs can’t all be reconfigured overnight. Regardless, we’re still a ways off from when that will happen.

For now, American continues to sell first class well into 2026, but I imagine it’s also easy for American to simply downgrade people once a final decision is made.

Bottom line

American has plans to reconfigure its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, eliminating first class, and introducing a new business class. The first aircraft is now supposed to be reconfigured as of May 2025, though it’ll almost certainly be the third quarter before the plane is in service. Then I’d expect that it will be two years until all 777-300ERs are reconfigured.

More immediately, it’s expected that American will start taking delivery of new Boeing 787-9s in the coming weeks, where we’ll see the debut of American’s new business class, and a premium heavy configuration.

What do you make of American’s plans to retrofit Boeing 777-300ERs?