FWAAA

Nice to see ORD-ALB return. That route was mainline until 2002, when 50-seaters replaced the F-100s. In mid-2008, as the financial meltdown/recession unfolded, Eagle closed ALB, PVD, MDT and SBP.

I assume that ORD-ALB will be flown with 2-class large RJs, as 50-seaters would be a complete waste of effort against UA's mix of mainline and two-class RJs.

Josh1780

Great to see the new AA adding more cities from PHX. I might look at taking a trip to MEM in March on the new nonstop. Also very nice to see the return of ORD-ALB, hopefully PVD is around the corner.

gruss

They announced 3x daily, 2x on a CR7 and 1x on an ER4 (yuck).

FWAAA

That is unfortunate. On Monday, Nov 16, UA is flying one 739, one 738 and one CRJ-700 from ORD to ALB. First is sold out on the CRJ-700 and most of the mainline F seats are taken. I can't see a 50-seater competing at all, while the AA CRJ-700s aren't all that bad, especially since they feature 9 F seats compared to the UA/Skywest CRJ-700s at just 6 F seats.

ElmhurstNick

I was flying ORD-ALB about every three weeks from 1999-2004, cutting down to 50-seaters, in conjunction with losing MRTC, was enough to dump me over the edge back then and move from EXP on AA to mid-tier on UA.

Not being able to find an F100 replacement was one of the things that really caused them grief after 9/11. Today, the 175s or even the CR9s can fill that gap.

FWAAA

Returning the TWA 717s to Boeing and AA's failure to order about 100 additional copies was, IMO, one of AA management's biggest blunders of 2002. The 717 is fuel efficient, sturdy enough for 40 years worth of service, and they were inexpensive.

In early 2002, as it was announcing the return of the 717s, AA management spoke of the F-100 in glowing terms:

And yet before 2002 was over, AA announced the retirement of the F-100s. Carty was a compulsive liar - AA had never disclosed that it planned to retire the 717s when it acquired them, despite having released fleet plans to the public.

And thus began nearly a decade when AA had no aircraft between 70 seats (just 47 CRJ-700s) and ~140 seats (MD-80s). Delta now has more than 80 717s acquired from WN (FL's planes) for which DL is paying a small fraction of the cost of new E195s, the closest equivalent available plane today.

Longboater

And Delta is looking to acquire more according to multiple employees familiar with the situation. The size of the 717 is a sweet spot for them. When its all set and done, I wouldn't be shocked if they end up close to or just above 100 of these planes. Initially, they were to acquire 25 E90s but those were "cancelled" with the rejection of the new pilot contract. However, this is a pure negotiation tactic and DL will definitely be ordering quite a few of these used aircraft, as they continue to draw down 50 seaters. One of AA's biggest blunders in the past 15 years was cancelling the order for these aircraft. Unfortunately the lease costs were too great as TWA's credit sucked.

FWAAA

Agree with everything except the bolded part; While TWA's credit was no good, AA's credit in early 2001 was stellar, and AA negotiated with the aircraft lessors before assuming the TWA leases. From the 2000 10-K:

AA was paying better rates than was TWA. The 717s weren't dumped simply because they were expensive - they were dumped because short-sighted management felt the F-100s were satisfactory substitutes. Whoops!

CMK10

I had a schedule change today for a January RDU-NYC trip. The JFK-RDU flight went from a ER4 to an E75. First time AA has had two class planes on this route. Huge ^

Longboater

^. I think this might be the first of many more to come as the E75s keep on coming.

ccengct

Such a bizarre episode. Some of the F100s were only 8 years old when the decision to retire them was made. I saw one of them at VIE a few weeks ago. OS says the F100s will leave the fleet starting next year.

However one felt about the F100s from the perspective of a passenger, it was insane for AA to drop both the F100s and the 717s.

carsnoceans

I just finished a GRU rn and chatted with some senior flight crew on new routes.

Two of the senior FAs (30+yrs at AA) did mention hearing the rumor to AUH route as well. No dates though. This makes me wildly excited and sad. If AUH route is for real, the downgrade to 4 SWUs couldn't be at a worse time.

JonNYC

AUH rumor was as real as it gets, 100% confirmed through multiple sources. However, about 2-3 weeks ago I heard it was "fading" and is no longer all that likely.

cmd320

Convenient that Discount Doug's most recent ME3 rant came just days after that 2-3 week period.

IADCAflyer

I bet you see a lot of caution of consideration of any mid east routes given the events of the past two weeks (Russian crash, Paris massacre).