American Airlines terminates US Airways' A350 order in favour of new order for 47 787s

American Airlines signed (06-Apr-2018) an order with Boeing for 22 787-8s scheduled for delivery from 2020 and 25 787-9s scheduled for delivery from 2023, plus 28 options, which will "more than double" its existing 787 fleet. The 47 aircraft are valued at more than USD12 billion at list prices and makes American the "largest 787 customer in the western hemisphere". The 787-8s will replace American's fleet of 767-300s, while later 787-9 deliveries will replace A330-300s and older 777-200 widebody aircraft. The entire order of new 787s will be powered with General Electric's GEnx-1B engines. American also agreed with Airbus to terminate its order for 22 A350s, which was originally placed by US Airways. American has also reached an agreement with Boeing to defer the delivery of 40 737 MAX aircraft previously scheduled to arrive between 2020 and 2022, with the revised delivery schedule to better align with planned retirements of other narrowbody aircraft. President Robert Isom commented: "We have two excellent partners in Boeing and Airbus and our relationship with both manufacturers goes back many years. Both offer specific aircraft that provide us with the right lift on specific missions across our global network. This was a difficult decision between the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350 and A330neo and we thank both manufacturers for their aggressive efforts to earn more of American's business. In the end, our goal to simplify our fleet made the 787 a more compelling choice". CFO Derek Kerr also acknowledged the carrier's goal to simplify its aircraft types, pointing out the prior plan would have had American operate five widebody aircraft types. Mr Kerr said: "We see significant advantages to carrying common fleet types, including creating less friction in our operation when aircraft swaps are necessary, reducing inventory needs, and creating a more consistent service for customers and team members". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II] [more - original PR - III]