How old are American Airlines planes?
American Airlines currently maintains a fleet of almost 1000 planes and that rank it among one of the biggest fleets on the globe. North American’s average aircraft age is between 10-15 years, while for American Airlines it is also between 10-15 years. Indeed, this places American in an average position among major U. S. airlines in terms of age of the fleet.
The condition, age and the overall model of the aircrafts that an airline uses are also key determinants of cost, efficiency in fuel consumption, comfort and reliability. The first cost impact is that older aircrafts have a higher level of repairs and maintenance than newer models, which leads to high operating costs. They also, for example, consume more fuel than new models with sleeker appearances and updated engines. Older planes do not have many creature comforts that passengers have gotten accustomed to such as individual touch screen entertainment systems, electrical outlets and Wi-Fi connectivity.
But how in terms of average fleet age within the period of 10-15 years does the American Airlines look like compared to other major US airlines? Delta Air Lines has the largest age of its planes, and on average, it is 16,7 years old, which makes it the leader among large companies in the United States. According to United Airlines, the average age of the aircraft is about 15 years old. Southwest Airlines has one of the youngest fleet ages at 11. 1 years and that is considered to be one of the youngest fleet ages in the industry.
As for American, it has concentrated on the type of fleet renewal in recent years. Over the past three years more than 250 new narrow and wide-body jets have been added to the fleet. These include more efficient airplanes such as the Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A321neo that incorporated features such as passenger comforts that customers desire. Further, new jets are also planned to be procured over the course of the subsequent years.
Retiring Older Planes
Over the years, American has made some additions in new planes and that is why the airline has phased out many of its oldest models that were as old as 20 years at times. This has helped American to significantly manage to reduce the overall fleet age as new jets take over older ones.
Examples of old plane types with the American airline that the company has recently retired include McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series which was nicknamed “Super 80”. The last of these planes that had an average age of over 25 years in the American airline’s fleet operated in the year 2019.
Also, the American has retired Boeing 767-300 wide-body planes, most of which were ordered in the 1990s, meaning that they are over two decades old. The newest and larger capacity aircrafts are the Boeing 787 Dreamliners which have replaced the older aircrafts on long haul international routes.
The Boeing 737-800 that was first introduced to the American Airlines in the late 1990 s and early 2000 s has also been gradually phased out in favor of the latest MAX variant in more fuel efficient and passengers friendly way. Mid this decade, American should have over one hundred new MAX planes as the 737-800 models, serving their prime, exit service.
Regional Fleet Details
American directly owns and operates most of the large jets you see with the American Airlines logo, but it relies on its regional affiliates to provide flows from smaller feeder markets to its domestic depths. For example, American Eagle regional airline partners include Envoy, PSA and Republic who fly using small aircrafts.
The average age of the regional aircraft used for American Eagle regional flights is nine years. Some of them include the Embraer E175, Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft with the capacities of 65 to 80 passengers respectively. The American Eagle operation which connects very small markets using turboprops has an average age of under 14 years for its fleet. Such propeller driven planes include the Bombardier Dash 8 which can accommodate as few as 50 or up to 75 passengers.
Regionals under the American Eagle brand currently serve over 200 small and midsize markets in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean connecting these places to American’s hubs and international gateway airports. By doing so, American makes sure that its regional partners are flying modern, efficient, and reliable planes delivered by Embraer and Bombardier.
Why Fleet Age Matters
To continue to have planes that are efficient in terms of fuel consumption and that are dependable with all the conveniences that a passenger expects in a plane entails the need to invest in next generation planes. American realizes that customer has a choice when today selecting an airline and the aspects like comfort, WiFi, power outlet, personal screen, updated seating, and many more matters.
Yes, getting all brand new planes as it is designed in some of the leading airlines around the world may be the best thing to improve the passenger experience but it comes with a very hefty price tag with new wide-bodied aircrafts costing over $100 million while the narrow-bodied ones cost between $50 million and $80 million. Thus, costs are so high that instead of buying new generation planes at a premium, airlines become launch customers only for the existing models. This enables them to offer reasonable fares to customer than their rivals in the market.
It also has the maintenance advantage, since all the bugs and difficulties with new models entering service are solved for mid-aged planes. Furthermore there are some other factors such as, Fleet consistency in the sense that all pilots are trained uniformly and all staff members are well acquainted with some models of the aircrafts. This minimizes operational variety, and crews are up to date with a particular model of the aircraft or equipment.
Thus, while American does not boast the youngest fleet among discounter airlines such as Spirit and Allegiant, consistent replacement of the aging planes with the new aircraft with the best service years ahead provides certain predictability. American’s ideal target of 10-15 years for its fleet appears to give the airline the perfect cost, efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort they want.