American nears A350 decision; no interest in 100-seater

American Airlines expects to make a final decision on its order for 22 Airbus A350-900s within six months and possibly by the end of 2017.

American EVP and CFO Derek Kerr, speaking on the sidelines of the company’s media & investor briefing day in Dallas/Fort Worth Sept 28, confirmed the airline wants to make a decision on the widebodies sooner rather than later.

In April 2017, American and Airbus reached an agreement to defer the carrier’s first A350-900 delivery to late 2020 from 2018 and put all 22 A350-900s American has on order on a deferred delivery schedule, with an average deferral of two years per aircraft.

It was the second time in less than a year that American deferred the delivery of the 22 A350-900s, which were originally ordered by US Airways in 2007. American and US Airways merged in December 2013. The aircraft are now scheduled to be delivered some 50 months later than was originally planned when US Airways placed the order.

But the airline’s top executives have indicated American does not want to take delivery of the aircraft under the current terms of its contract with Airbus.

And Kerr confirmed Thursday that the solution may be to replace the A350 orders with new A330s. The airline already operates that aircraft and, post-merger, has been streamlining its fleet types.

On the single-aisle fleet modernization side, meanwhile, American will begin taking delivery of Boeing 737 MAXs next year and then also Airbus A321neos—both re-engined, more efficient narrowbodies. Kerr acknowledged, however, the airline does not yet see a direct replacement for the Boeing 757 and 767—both of which American operates. Boeing has outlined the design of its projected new midsize airplane, or middle of the market aircraft, but is vague on details. Kerr said American was in general talks with Boeing, and would need to start finding a 757/767 replacement in five years, but it was not clear what that would be.

American chairman and CEO Doug Parker, meanwhile, said he saw no need to buy a100-seat aircraft. “We are happy with what we have [on order] and our ability to fulfil the missions. A 100-seater in the future? Perhaps, but there’s no problem to fix there,” he said, seemingly dismissing any interest in the Bombardier CSeries.

The US Department of Commerce announced earlier this week it will impose a duty of almost 220% on CSeries imports if a parallel price-dumping investigation finds subsidies on the narrowbody jet ordered by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines in April 2016 threaten to materially damage Boeing. The duty is expected to be in place before deliveries to Delta begin in April.

Boeing alleged the CS100 price secured by Delta endangers the future of the 737 MAX 7, the smallest version of the MAX family, although the US manufacturer acknowledges it did not offer the aircraft to meet Delta’s requirement for a 100-110-seat aircraft, which is the CS100 niche.

Asked Thursday for American to comment about the US decision, EVP-corporate affairs Steve Johnson said, “It does show you that [the US] government is taking a really hard look at how we are competing with foreign enterprises and I think that’s a good thing.”

(Karen Walker - ATWOnline News)