American Airlines orders 260 plans from Airbus, Boeing and Embraer

American Airlines announced Monday that it had placed an order for 260 new planes in roughly equal numbers from Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. This is the airline’s largest aircraft order since 2011 and reflects strong demand for air travel.

The order includes 85 Airbus A321neo aircraft, 85 Boeing 737 Max 10 jets and 90 smaller Embraer E175 aircraft. Boeing’s tie in the deal suggests American remains confident in the manufacturer after a January incident in which a panel blew off a Max 9 plane during a commercial flight. This episode caused no major injuries, but revived concerns about the safety and quality of Boeing’s plans.

The deal with Boeing includes an existing order for 30 smaller Max 8 planes, which have been upgraded to the Max 10. This larger plane, which has not yet received regulatory approval, can accommodate about 200 passengers. American’s A321neo plans can typically accommodate that many passengers.

Embraer’s plans are a workhorse of regional U.S. subsidiaries, which typically use the jets for shorter trips, often between smaller airports or connecting those locations to larger hub airports. The E175 typically seats around 76 passengers in economy and premium classes.

Embraer, the third largest aircraft manufacturer, is based near São Paulo, Brazil, and Airbus, the largest, is headquartered in Toulouse, France. Boeing, the second largest, is based in Arlington, Virginia.

“Over the past decade, we have invested heavily to modernize and simplify our fleet, which is the largest and youngest among U.S. network operators,” American Chief Executive Robert Isom said in a statement. communicated. “These orders will continue to fuel our fleet with newer, more efficient aircraft so we can continue to offer the best network and record operational reliability to our customers. »

American said the plans would help it achieve the dual goals of flying larger planes in the United States and on shorter routes, as well as offering more premium seats, which are much more profitable and for which demand has increased in recent years. The airline said it will also upgrade existing Airbus A319 and A320 plans from 2025, expanding first class, adding power to each seat and installing larger overhead compartments.

The order announced Monday is the largest by a U.S. airline since 2021, when United Airlines announced plans to buy 200 planes from Boeing and 70 from Airbus. American’s last big plane order was in 2011, when it purchased 260 Airbus and 200 Boeing planes.