American Airlines In Talks On Narrowbody Aircraft Needs

American Airlines is talking with Boeing and Airbus about its narrowbody aircraft needs, the carrier confirms to Aviation Week.

The discussions center around the American’s narrowbody needs for the latter half of the decade and beyond, a spokesperson said. 

American currently operates a fleet of 917 in-service aircraft according to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery Database—a mix of Airbus A320ceo family (384) and A320neo family (70) aircraft, Boeing 737-8s (51), 737-800s (289), 777s (65), and 787s (58). During a recent second quarter (Q2) earnings call, CEO Robert Isom identified a future need for larger narrowbodies “in a number of places.”

“It just fits with how our hub structure works and all the kind of things that [Chief Commercial Officer] Vasu [Raja] wants to do,” Isom said on July 20. “So, as we take a look out into the future, you’ll see us make sure that we protect ourselves and that we are able to not only replace and upgauge, from a narrowbody perspective, but also have an eye to be able to grow at a rate appropriate for demand levels.”

The Fort Worth-based carrier said a re-fleeting pursued during 2014-2019 and accelerated during the pandemic differentiated it from many network peers, in terms of its motivations behind new aircraft orders. 

“We don’t have any fleet replacement needs between now and the end of the decade,” CFO Devon May told analysts and investors on the Q2 call. “So when we are investing in aircraft, that is an investment to grow the network and to grow the airline.”

American has projected aircraft CapEx to be approximately $1.7 billion in 2023 and said it expects aircraft CapEx beyond 2024 to average approximately $3.5 billion per year, “likely through the end of the decade.” 

The carrier currently has 187 aircraft on order, according to Fleet Discovery, including 54 A321-200neos, 83 737-8s, 30 787-9s, and 20 Boom Supersonic Overtures. 

Confirming the current discussions, an American spokesperson noted, “We continually evaluate our fleet and our future aircraft requirements.”