I did not know this. Interesting. I thought for sure it would have been one of the big European based budget airlines.

I think you're mixing two different products here. There were two variations of 2-3-2 seating on AA 777s, the earlier version were recliners (made by Weber if I remember correctly?), though these seats were gone by ~2010ish to the best of my memory. The NGBC seat (made by Recaro) was also 2-3-2 but angle-flat and was the J seat installed across the entire 772, 763, and 75L fleet at the time of the merger. The 767-200 still used recliner style seats in F and J but was only used on transcons and a few MIA-JFK turns. The 77W used the seats it currently uses in J.

No doubt fleet simplification has its merits, though AA isn't Southwest (and to be honest Southwest will probably never fly anything other than a 737). The cost structure, network, and operation in general are very different. Delta, despite having (had) a very diverse fleet managed to be the most profitable of any of these airlines in the preceding decade, partly by being able to adapt the exact right size aircraft to each flight. This isn't to say a fleet of 20 A220s would be the right call, it certainly wouldn't, however a fleet of ~150 to replace the far less efficient A319 would likely offer a compelling reason to have another pilot group, one that's also likely to be paid a bit less.

Closest would be EasyJet with ~315. But they're still about 100 shy of AA. AA has a lot of A321s, most inherited.

I agree about the simplification, but I don't see AA ordering the a319neo. They have a bunch of relatively young a319s now and as the older ones (LUS) get phased out, I expect they'll be replaced by 737s and a320s.

The a319neo has flopped (as likely will the MAX7) because it fills an awkward spot of nearly the same operational costs as the bigger sibling and less revenue and flexibility.

Long term, I suspect AA will end up with the 737MAX8 and the A321Neo as their two gauges of narrow body.

Actually, the original A330-300s were ordered by US Airways well before the merger with America West. Back then, US Airways even offered a one-row First Class cabin with an amazing soft service which even included flowers in the F lavatory. Unfortunately, US Airways was plagued by a lousy Revenue Management team (many of whom ended up at Spirit because no other airline would hire them) who thought that they could price their F product higher than Air France/British Airways/Lufthansa without a lot of corporate contracts and that strategy failed miserably on them.

The light faux paneling and other cheap things took place under Parker's lack of leadership for the A330-200 fleet post merger.

According to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Air_Lines_fleet delta is acquiring the A330 fleet.

There is no source given, but it does seem like a good place for them to go. I wonder if DL will refit them with the D1 suites they currently have on their 339s, or if they will press them into service with new seat covers like the LATAM A350s.

I would take that with a grain of salt. Any time any aircraft is up for sale, the internet seems to think DL will buy them.

That said, it isn't out of the question. IIRC, the a332 fleet is PW powered, which should give it commonality with DLs a330ceo fleet (the neos are RR)

The A330-300s dated back to the Stephen Wolf era. First delivered in early 2000. I flew on one in late 2000 to London. And came back as one of two passengers in the 6-passenger F class cabin.

Nothing under Stephen Wolf was done cheap at the time. The cheap stuff started after BK #1, well after Wolf and Gangwal departed the scene. I think Siegel started it, and Parker only continued and expanded it. The US Airways I know was a great carrier that served me well for many, many years. And, actually America West was too back in the day. Unfortunately, so many know them only as the combined entity, where a lot of the stuff we all complain about started.

That being said, International F = Employee Class. It never sold well and was mostly employees (many of whom I was friends with back then).

It appears the lack of source is the cause for this change to be reverted: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spec...iffmode=source

Not sure how up to date airfleets.net is, but the AA A330's all show 'stored'. If you click on any of the MSN's, it would show a change of registration when/if that happens. If AA has absolutely no plans to bring them back, I would expect them to be gone at some point while they're still viable.

https://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/...tored-a330.htm