AA Finally Upgrading Fleet
 

I received this in the mail today.

http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/newplanes.jsp
anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=newplanes

This is long overdue. I thought they'd never retire their aging fleet.

Way cool, thanks.

Interesting and a bit of a surprise. With the AA bankruptcy will we ever see this? I am not necessarily a big fan, but I will be disappointed when AA disappears. It's hard to fathom No more American Airlines :( It is sad. I can not imagine flying US Airways for some reason. US Airways is not big where I live.

I just posted this because AA sent this to me. Separately, they have signed firm and not-so-firm deals with Airbus and Boeing for the planes mentioned.

AA has not delved into the world of Airbus prior to this agreement. They have an aging fleet of MD-80s, 767s and 737s.

Hopefully, they will get smarter and centralize their fleet around 1-2 models, a la Southwest.

Southwest says you can fly any of our planes, as they're all 737s. This is a great business model, as it cuts down on parts, required on the shelf, significantly. It also cuts down on required repair training.

I missed the 757s, as they've been around for far too long.

AA had a fleet of A300-600s, only retired in 2009. Mostly for high-density Caribbean service. One crashed into Queens on 11/12/2001.

AA had never believed in fleet commonality. They bought the A300s, they bought the Fokker 100. They currently have a split narrrowbody order between Airbus and Boeing.

We are flying via Heathrow next May on American. Right now, the equipment shows to be 777's.

I was disappointed when American stopped flying their larger planes to Frankfurt and went to the 763.

I certainly hope they can emerge from bankruptcy without having to merge with US Air. I've seen what Continental's merger with United has done to the air service in Houston.

You'll be better off with the 763 if flying in coach. AA's receiving new 777-300ERs with 10-abreast seating, and you can expect some of the LHR flights to have them. I'd take the wider seats on 2-3-2 763 rather than narrower seats on 3-4-3 777s.

From Seatguru, the long haul 767 has an economy seat width of 17.2", while the 777 has a seat width of 18"-18.5"

SeatExpert has it at 17.2" and 18.2"

From these stats, I'm guessing the 777 has wider seats in economy.

I am talking about their new 777-300ER.

I would be so very happy never to have to fly on an MD80 again.