American Airlines accelerates 737 deliveries

[nyc6035]

I wonder if any of these will actually be a net increase in equipment vs. a pure swapout.

I find it quite interesting that this equipment will arrive less than 6 months after the last furloughed flight attendant falls off the recall list. Awful convenient...

 

[mga707]

You would have to cram seats in a la ATA (their 738 seats 191, IIRC)to pay for that 4th f/a.

Fairly tight pitch, but not quite that cramped! ATA 737-800s have 175 seats.

 

[jimntx]

Just telling what an ATA flight attendant told me the one time I flew that airline.

 

[eolesen]

I wonder if any of these will actually be a net increase in equipment vs. a pure swapout.

It might wind up being a net decrease -- it wouldn't surprise me at all to see replacements numbering around 225 aircraft, bringing the 738 fleet up to 302 aircraft.

Between depeaking and checkerboard, AA's managed to do more flying with the current 670 aircraft than they did with about 800 at the time following the TWA acquisition. If you throw in some workrule changes to further reduce turn times, it's feasible to think that operating the current level of schedule with only 300 narrowbodies isn't out of the question, leaving more dollars to start replace the 757 and 767 fleet with a mix of long and short range 787s.