American’s Plans To Retrofit Boeing 777-300ERs With New Cabins

American Airlines will soon be introducing 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 are unfortunately delayed), we’re also going to see existing Boeing 777-300ERs reconfigured. We now have some more insights into the timeline with which that could start to happen, and it’s sooner than I would have expected.

American will soon retrofit first Boeing 777

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.

There have been a lot of questions about when American would reconfigure its first 777-300ER, especially given the delay with new 787-9 deliveries. Are the Dreamliner delays impacting the timeline with which American will retrofit existing planes?

Well, the always knowledgable @xJonNYC reports on some interesting progress on this front:

• 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 first Boeing 777-300ER should get new cabins by early September 2024

Suffice it to say that this is way sooner than most of us were expecting. Let me of course add a few caveats:

• @xJonNYC consistently provides great info, though it’s possible that the timeline for this could be delayed due to a variety of reasons
• Even if the first jet is reconfigured by early September 2024, don’t necessarily assume it will be in service anytime soon; this is a prototype, and the aircraft will need to be certified with the new interiors, and that’s a process that could take weeks or even months, depending on how it plays out
• While I’m sure the goal is to reconfigure jets pretty quickly for the sake of fleet consistency, there are lots of variables here, including that that American continues to deal with delivery delays on so many jets, so the airline may not want to take more planes out of service than it has to

But anyway, the fact that the first 777-300ER could start to be reconfigured in the coming weeks is a pretty major development. While a lot can change, this is the best info we have so far…

When will American eliminate international first class?

We know that American has plans to eliminate its international first class product, instead introducing an improved business class experience, plus a new front row premium business class experience. What remains to be seen is exactly when that will happen.

Previously we had heard that American might stop selling first class for flights as of some point in late 2024. However, that seems to be a moving target, and as of now, American is continuing to sell first class through the end of the schedule (May 2025).

I wouldn’t necessarily read too much into that. My guess is that American just doesn’t yet know when it will stop selling first class.

I mean, most people booking first class way in advance are doing so with miles and/or are upgrading, and I suppose American thinks it’s easy enough to rebook them in business class when the airline finally has a better sense of the timeline. For that matter, American swaps planes on routes all the time, so that would be hardly be the first time the airline has dealt with such a thing.

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.

Bottom line

I’ve been wondering when American would start reconfiguring its 777-300ERs, given the delays with the 787-9s. While we still don’t know anything with certainty, the current thinking seems to be that the first 777-300ER will be reconfigured very shortly, and that project could be completed by early September 2024.

However, actually getting the new interiors certified, plus working out kinks, will probably make this a drawn out process. After all, it will be the very first jet the airline has with these interiors. While we may see pictures of the new 777-300ER interiors in September, the first plane may only enter service later in the year.

There are no additional details yet about the pace at which American hopes to reconfigure all 20 777-300ERs, so we’ll have to be patient.

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