According to a Bloomberg report, European plane maker Airbus will receive a larger share of the order than American Boeing, with the deal being announced as early as next week. American Airlines is nearing a deal for about 100 narrowbody jets split between Airbus SE and Boeing.
Expected to be announced as early as next week, the deal for Airbus A321 and Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets could merge the March 4 investor meeting.
Recent developments at Boeing, and further delivery delays from the Aerospace major could influence the decision making at American Airlines. And it will be interesting to see if a fleet of forthcoming 737 MAX 10 sneaks into the deal amid certification delays.
The move comes amid a scramble for scarce Airbus production slots, with rival United Airlines already in talks with Airbus for a potential mega-order to replace hundreds of MAX 10s on order from Boeing.
For now, according to the managment, American Airlines does not intend to retire any aircraft this decade because they consider the fleet to be young.
Carrier's future acquisition plans got overhauled , after Boeing faced a new crisis after a January incident when a cabin door plug fell off inflight from an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX jet, drawing widespread criticism of the MAX9 model.
American Airlines has a fleet of 218 A321ceos that are around 11 years old and more recent planes such as the A321neo (71 aircraft) and 737 MAX 8 (55 jets).
The carrier also recently acquired ten A321neo that flew with Alaska Airlines, after the airline standardized its fleet with Boeing 737 models.
American had sought to place a new order for planes for deliveries in 2027 and beyond. Chief Financial Officer Devon May told Reuters last month the carrier was talking to Boeing, Airbus and Embraer for the new order, but was mindful of Boeing's ongoing issues.
"We absolutely take current events into consideration as we're going through our analysis of this order," May said in the interview last month.
Related news.....
