New Flagship Suites coming to 77W, 789 & 321XLR; 3-class F and 321T sub-fleet to go

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Sep 23, 2022, 7:26 am

#106

jtav559

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I am curious to see how this new Flagship Suite percolates through the fleet, and the knock on effects of rationalization....

777-200 fleet is LONG in the tooth, anywhere from a 1999 fleet entry to 2006.... I think the average age is like 19 years old. And most frames have a J product that was installed in the last 5 years. Is AA planning to ride these frames into the sunset with the current J product? I don't see them doing a J overhaul with not a lot of time left on the useful lifespan of that fleet.
Which begs the question.... is the 787-8 + 787-9 fleet supposed to be THE replacement for 777-200's.... 47 772's on hand, and 40 787's between the two variants on order at present, mostly the larger 787-9 which is the closest seat count to 772.
I could see AA picking up some used 77W's to supplement that fleet and boost their cargo abilities as well as have enough premium capacity on select routes.
But then again, the A321XLR is supposed to be the long-thin INTL route swiss-army-knife..... Are they thinking that frame will pickup the INTL slack where 772's were previously underutilized? And then move the excess wide bodies to routes where the cargo is profitable?

A lot of moving parts in the years to come!

Sep 23, 2022, 7:54 am

#107

PHL

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jtav559

I am curious to see how this new Flagship Suite percolates through the fleet, and the knock on effects of rationalization....

777-200 fleet is LONG in the tooth, anywhere from a 1999 fleet entry to 2006.... I think the average age is like 19 years old. And most frames have a J product that was installed in the last 5 years. Is AA planning to ride these frames into the sunset with the current J product? I don't see them doing a J overhaul with not a lot of time left on the useful lifespan of that fleet.

This is a COVID era article, but probably still relevant in the bigger picture.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhor...h=371031be6424

Using the hindsight of regretting the hasty decision to dump the 757/767/330 fleets, I could see them taking a more phased approach like retiring the older 772s and refurb the remaining ones for another ~10 years of life. Or do what UA does and densify their seating for medium haul flights.

cmd320 likes this.

Sep 23, 2022, 9:24 am

#108

Antarius

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Quote:

Originally Posted by PHL

I don't see AA refurbishing their 772s. By the time the current gen of seats ages out to need replacement and they start a refurb, frames will be 30 years old. Even their announcement explicitly calls out the 77Ws.

I wouldn't be surprised long term if they pick up some 78Js as replacements to some 772s. Still maintains fleet commonality, but gives them more flexibility between the 77W and the 789.

I get retiring the 767s and 757s, the former more so. The a330s was absolutely daft. AA is still paying for some of those a332s.

Apr 13, 2023, 8:57 am

#109

PHL

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Some more detail on the deliveries in the 2022 annual report (page 70).

The "A320NEO" family includes the 321NEO and 321XLR. The purchase was for 50 XLR variants, and there are 60 in that general family coming so I would expect that 60 to include the remaining A321NEOs. I guess AA can modify future orders to be more NEOs vs XLRs depending on business needs and economic factors. 2024 is slated to see 12 of the 30 new 789's with the new interiors.

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Jul 19, 2023, 5:00 am

#110

CLTRob

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Quote:

Originally Posted by PHL

Just saw on Wikipedia that AA is to now receive 58 A321-XLR aircraft instead of the original 50 that were ordered. Did AA switch some of the NEOs to XLR?

Jul 19, 2023, 5:33 am

#111

PHL

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Quote:

Originally Posted by CLTRob

Just saw on Wikipedia that AA is to now receive 58 A321-XLR aircraft instead of the original 50 that were ordered. Did AA switch some of the NEOs to XLR?

Well, it's Wiki..... Anyone could go update it and say they are getting 500 XLRs...

. The most recent sources cited in the Wiki AA fleet page (where it shows 58 XLRs) is from 2019 when the announcement was 50. They will be having their Q2 investor calls/updates soon so maybe we'll get updates on deliveries. It's already been hinted that they may not come in 2024, or very late in the year, due to Airbus supply chain issues.

Jul 19, 2023, 8:37 am

#112

songofamerica89

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AA converted some XLR options in the past month or so to increase their firm order number to 58. All other A320 series aircraft have been delivered so they can't convert any. They still have dozen of additional options for the model and could switch if they wish, but doubt it. Wouldn't be surprised to see 70 - 100 XLRs in the future if AA wants to grow TA and SA service.

dw likes this.

Aug 27, 2023, 4:33 pm

#113

HaleiwaFlyer

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Although being CK for awhile, I just flew my first AA F transcon SFO-JFK and JFK-LAX flights on the A321T. The A321T F seats and set up are my favorite seats out of the AA configurations. Large footwell, wide shoulders for sleeping, and a wide aisle. 1-1 set up is nice too. Sad to see potential plans to take the A321T F class away in the future, and secretly wishing they would use these birds for LAX to HNL.

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Aug 27, 2023, 6:57 pm

#114

PHL

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Quote:

Originally Posted by HaleiwaFlyer

The 321T's are will be replaced with the 321XLRs which look to be an overall improvement with 20 lie flat private seats in a 1-1 config up front in lieu of the separate F and J cabins. And these new seats will have privacy doors. The XLR will also have 12 PremEcon seats. With 50 of these on order, it will give AA flexibility to deploy them on premium markets that are not just JFK-LAX/SFO, but others as the need arises, along with thin TA routes from the East coast.

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Aug 28, 2023, 7:47 am

#115

songofamerica89

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Curious if the 787-8 and newer 772 will get a refit with the Flagship Suites? It would make sense to keep the product standardized which AA likes to do. Especially the 788 which the oldest is about 10 years old. Would love to see the 788 return to 28 suites and keep 28 PE seats, eliminate most of MCE (except for exit rows). Maybe AA could do what TWA did back in the day and add foot rests to the main cabin seats and go with leg/foot rest in PE (which the mock ups don't show but would be awesome for passenger experience).

I am sure we will find out soon, can't wait for the XLR and 789 to start showing up in the fleet.

Aug 28, 2023, 4:26 pm

#116

Lonedaddy

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Is there any indication what routes the new suites will be on and when they will roll them out in 2024?

Aug 28, 2023, 5:14 pm

#117

PHL

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Quote:

Originally Posted by songofamerica89

Curious if the 787-8 and newer 772 will get a refit with the Flagship Suites?

Nothing has been announced. AA did say there are no current plans to retire the 772 fleet, but that doesn't mean they won't sunset some of the older ones in the coming years. I wouldn't expect any retrofits of the 788 and 772 cabins to happen until the 789 and XLR deliveries are done in ~4 years.

Aug 28, 2023, 5:17 pm

#118

PHL

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Lonedaddy

Is there any indication what routes the new suites will be on and when they will roll them out in 2024?

Nothing specific. We know the 321Ts will be replaced with the XLRs if AA wants to remain competitive on the premium JFK transcon traffic. We also know that PHL and ORD are 787 bases but beyond that it's anyone's guess as to where the new 789's will be deployed.

Aug 28, 2023, 6:18 pm

#119

lrdpenn

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I wonder how they will manage the transition on the transcons during the period they have a mixed fleet, if they do.

If they don’t maintain the two aircraft types in scheduling, ceasing F, capping J at 20 seats, and not selling PE is the worst of both worlds and must be a painful revenue hit