American Airlines rejigs B737 MAX, B787 orders

American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) announced in a quarterly investor update that it has reached agreements with Boeing concerning the deferrals of deliveries of both B737-8 and B787 aircraft originally due in 2021 and 2022, and the conversion of five B787-8 orders to B787-9s. Prior to the announcement, the carrier had nineteen B787-8s on firm order from Boeing Capital, all of them due for delivery in 2021. Following the adjustment, fourteen B787-8s will be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2022, while the five -9s converted from -8 orders are scheduled to arrive in 2023 under the original financing plan. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that American Airlines has twenty-five B787-9s under a separate, direct order from Boeing. Deliveries of these aircraft are due to start in February 2023. As it stands, American Airlines is set to take eleven B787-9s in 2023. The carrier’s existing fleet includes twenty-three B787-8s and twenty-two B787-9s. Separately, the carrier exercised an option to defer eighteen B737-8s, originally scheduled for delivery in 2021 and 2022, to 2023 and 2024. “Related to the deferral of B737 MAX aircraft, in early April the Company elected to prepay USD248 million of outstanding loans under its pre-delivery payment B737 MAX credit facility with the related pre-delivery deposits to be returned to the Company from the resulting deferral,” the airline said. American Airlines has fifty-nine B737-8s on firm order from Boeing with 41 aircraft of the type already in its fleet. Following the deferral, it is poised to take no more B737 MAX in 2021 or 2022. It took seven B737-8s through March 13, 2021.