American Airlines CEO has officially stated that the airline is closely examining the need to have an order of 22 Airbus A350-900s incorporated into its fleet which it inherited after merging with US Airways whom had a fleet of 24 A330s which the A359s were destined to directly replace.
With a large fleet of Boeing 777s and B787s already in service, AA feels having a small sub fleet of A350s puts extra pressure on the entire system especially rotating them across its different hubs in USA.
Comments:
In my view, there are two options here for AA to choose from:
1. Exchange 22 A359s for 44 A321NEOs
2. Exchange 22 A359s for 25 A330-900NEOs
Both options mentioned above are good and have their own respective pros and cons. The safe bet would probably be option 1 as it can also opt for many A321neoLRs and base them out of MIA for medium demand LATAM routes where using a 763 isn't viable plus to fly PHL/BOS to U.K./Ireland year round and in the premium config boosting frequencies to LAX/SFO from these two markets along with MIA.
Option 1 allows mega cost savings over the long run as its wide body fleet would exclusively revolve around the B777 and B787 families.
If Option 2 gets implemented, then AA should just base the aircraft out of MIA airport and use them on high demand flights year round to Europe and Latin America.
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