American Airlines Keeping Around 777-200 Fleet: Adding New Cabins

Intro

Well, here is some exciting news about one of the big US3 carriers. A fleet that was supposed to be retiring is sticking around for quite a bit longer now, and this comes as somewhat of a surprise...

The Details

When the pandemic came upon us, airlines around the world were forced to shift and make split-second decisions. Well, American Airlines made one of the most rash decisions we have seen in aviation, and decided to retire its entirety of its 767, 757, and A330 fleet (which now might be going to TG), leaving a huge gap in its long-haul network (as we all know) due to a lack of aircraft.

While the plan had always been for the 777-200 fleet to be slowly phased out with incoming aircraft, it seems that this plan has changed... American Airlines will now be installing new cabins, similar to the 78P, as well as adding Viasat wifi to these aircraft beginning in the fall of 2026. This comes as no surprise, especially due to the fact of how dated 40% of these aircraft are with the backward-facing business class seats...

American Airlines will be installing its state-of-the-art business class on its 777-200 fleet

This is a huge addition to American Airlines, and allow me to explain why...

American Airlines Is On The Rise

Most people will say that this is a much-needed revamp of these antique (vintage, really) birds, but there is a lot going on at American Airlines that people don't realize. The airline might not be perfect, but they are attempting to once again become a condensed version of itself, which they were before the pandemic.

Not only have they added back pajamas to select flights, offers the best wines on transcon hops and have a cutting-edge business class product on their 78P's, but if they can install this fleetwide, they are going to give Delta and United a run for their money on competitive routes.

But at the same time, gosh, that Panasonic wifi is abysmal.

Final Thoughts

American Airlines is extending the life of their 777-200 fleet, after they had planned to slowly phase it out. With a shortage of widebodies and the delays on their 787s, this comes at no surprise after they retired a lot of widebodies during the pandemic. I'm excited to hopefully see somewhat of a consistent fleet, but realistically, I wouldn't get your hopes up until 2030 😂.