American Plans New Wide Body Aircraft Order, But The Choice May Surprise Us

While there are more questions than answers as of now, it seems increasingly likely that American Airlines will place a wide body aircraft order in the near future. However, the airline might not go with the obvious choice.

American could order Airbus or Boeing wide body planes

Among the “big three” US carriers, American has by far the weakest long haul network, especially when you take Latin America out of the equation. As I view the long haul network, American primarily likes to fly to joint ventures markets, to Latin America, and then do some seasonal summer flying to Europe (of course that’s a slight oversimplification, but you get the point).

I’d say we’ve gotten to this point due to a combination of some strategic blunders (retiring the Boeing 757s, Boeing 767s, and Airbus A330s early), along with American’s failed strategy of over-focusing on domestic flying, as part of Vasu Raja’s high conviction El Paso world domination strategy.

Looking at American’s wide body fleet, the airline has 67 Boeing 777s (47 777-200ERs and 20 777-300ERs), along with 70 Boeing 787s (37 787-8s, 33 787-9s). At this point, American’s remaining wide body order book includes just 19 787-9s, so that’s not a whole lot of planes.

As a point of comparison, Delta has 78 wide body planes on order, while United has a jaw-dropping 135 wide body planes on order. So yeah, American is increasingly falling behind when it comes to its wide body fleet, not to mention you need to order planes with quite a bit of lead time, so if you want to become more competitive, that takes time.

That brings us to the latest rumor, shared by JonNYC. He reports how American may be looking to place a new wide body aircraft order soon, and that this could be either with Airbus or Boeing. To be clear, this isn’t some shocking development, as we’ve kind of known this was in the cards. But what I find interesting is the suggestion that this could be Airbus or Boeing aircraft.

Which wide body aircraft will American select?

This is where I think it gets interesting. Ultimately there are four wide body aircraft families to choose from — the A330neo, A350, 777X, and 787. Which could American order?

I think one important thing to remember is that American executives simply don’t want very high capacity long haul aircraft. They’ve said it repeatedly, and for that matter, if United can’t make a next generation plane bigger than the 787-10 work despite its huge global network, then American certainly can’t either. So I’d eliminate the 777X and A350 as possibilities:

• There’s no way American is ordering the 777X; the plane isn’t even certified, and it’s “too much plane” for American anyway
• I also don’t see American ordering the A350; both variants are larger than American’s 787-9s, the plane is expensive, and there’s quite a bit of demand for it

So that leaves us with the 787 and A330neo. Logically, you’d think American would just keep increasing its 787 fleet, and would even order the 787-10, the largest variant of the plane. That seems like the obvious choice — it’s higher capacity, very fuel efficient, and has amazing per seat economics. For that matter, American eventually needs to replace its aging 777-300ERs, and it’s not like the airline is using the full range of those planes.

The catch is that the 787 is expensive, and there’s a long wait to get the planes. For example, Delta recently ordered the 787-10, and the first delivery will only happen in 2031.

That brings us to the A330neo, which might seem like an odd plane for American to order, but I actually increasingly think we could see that become a reality. Compared to the 787, the plane is a bit cheaper, a bit smaller, and it can also be ordered with less lead time.

While it might seem like a wild card, it does strike me as the most likely option for American, if it doesn’t go with the 787.

It’s just amazing to me how much money American has wasted on its long haul fleet strategy. American retired its entire (ex-US Airways) A330 fleet at the start of the pandemic, even though those planes were largely still quite new.

American had the opportunity to bring those back, but just decided not to. Instead, those planes are now being acquired by Vietnam’s Sun PhuQuoc Airways. It’s just so bizarre how American has so much debt, yet is obsessed with flying new planes, despite not actually having a lot to show for it in terms of passenger experience.

Like, American has the youngest fleet of the “big three” US carriers, but when you step onboard the average American plane, you wouldn’t know it. That’s because American has spent all its money on the metal and new engines, rather than on the passenger experience.

So anyway, we’ll mark this as “developing” for now, but I imagine that either we’re going to see a 787-10 order, or an A330-900neo order.

Bottom line

American is reportedly nearing a new wide body aircraft order, which isn’t necessarily surprising, given the carrier’s lack of an order book. JonNYC suggests we could see either an Airbus or Boeing order, which I find to be quite interesting, since most would assume that American would stick to Boeing.

I think a 777X or A350 order is highly unlikely, given their size and cost. Logically, you’d think American would keep growing its 787 fleet, and maybe even order the 787-10, given its great economics (despite American’s lack of desire for large long haul aircraft).

However, I think the wild card would be an A330-900neo order, since that actually seems like a pretty good fit for American, at least based on its (questionable) strategy. The plane is more readily available, not terribly high capacity, and a bit cheaper than the alternatives.

What wide body plane do you think American will ultimately order?