American reveals details of upcoming Boeing 777 retrofits, new Airbus A321XLR routes

09.09.2024 - 16:46 / thepointsguy.com / Brian Znotins

The onboard experience on some American Airlines jets is about to get much better.

In 2022, the Fort Worth-based carrier revealed its new Flagship Suites business-class product, as well as a new premium economy recliner and other improvements coming to some of its new and newly retrofitted planes.

The airline hasn't formally announced when these new seats and aircraft will take off. However, Brian Znotins, American's senior vice president of network and schedule planning, shared some updates that are sure to grab your attention.

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American has outstanding orders for 50 Airbus A321XLR, or extra-long-range, jets. These single-aisle Airbus planes are primarily expected to connect some of American's biggest Northeast markets with secondary cities in Europe that aren't as highly demanded.

But when the A321XLR deliveries start, American isn't going to immediately deploy them to Europe. Instead, those planes will fly the airline's premium transcontinental routes from Boston and New York City to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

That's because American is retiring its existing premium transcontinental aircraft, the Airbus A321T; it is currently configured with 10 Flagship First suites, 20 Flagship Business lie-flats and 72 economy seats (half of which are in an extra-legroom layout). The A321T will be converted into American's standard "Oasis" configuration, leaving the A321XLR as American's primary premium transcontinental aircraft.

"As the A321XLRs come in, they're going to be focused on replacing the A321Ts on transcons. So that's our first priority with those airplanes for reconfiguration of the A321Ts and for maintenance reasons of the A321Ts. We probably won't be seeing new A321XLRs on long-haul flying at least until deep 2025 or 2026," Znotins said.

The Airbus A321XLR won't feature Flagship First. (In fact, American is completely retiring this cabin.) However, these jets will sport 20 new Flagship Suites business-class seats in a 1-1 configuration, as well as a 16-seat premium economy cabin.

American is also retrofitting its existing fleet of 20 Boeing 777-300ERs. These planes will lose their Flagship First cabins in exchange for an all-new Flagship Suites business-class product that, based on the renderings, looks to be top-notch.

Znotins said that "the 777-300ER reconfigurations are being worked on this summer and winter moving into next summer as well."

Once the retrofits are complete, these planes will feature just three cabins in the following configuration:

With this new configuration, American is adding 18 business-class seats and 16 premium economy recliners to these jets without touching the economy capacity.