The lengthening of waiting times at Airbus to deliver its planes or the industrial setbacks of Boeing in no way prevents airlines from continuing to place orders with the two aircraft manufacturers.
American Airlines announced, Monday March 4, a giant order of 260 planes. As usual, the American company has chosen to split its mega contract between three manufacturers. Already in 2011, American had divided a purchase of 460 aircraft between Airbus, 260 aircraft, and Boeing, 200.
This time, in addition to 85 Airbus A321s and an equivalent number of Boeing 737 Max, the company based in Fort Worth, Texas, also made its purchases from the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, from which it ordered 90 short-haul E175 aircraft. American Airlines has also optioned 193 additional aircraft for the next few years.
A fleet of 600 aircraft
Robert Isom, CEO of the Texan company, is not his first purchase. For ten years, he has worked to renew, increase, but also modernize his company’s fleet. Today it is the largest in the United States, with more than six hundred aircraft. The idea is to support the development of global air traffic expected at around 4.5% per year, but also to save money by purchasing planes that consume less kerosene.
“These orders will continue to develop our fleet with more economical devices” , specified Robert Isom, on the eve of an “investors day”, a day with investors. With its purchases, American Airlines is preparing for the future. Some of the devices it ordered won’t be delivered until the next decade.
It is true that customer companies, particularly those of Airbus, must be patient. Seven years on average before taking delivery of their devices. Bad news, on the occasion of the publication of its annual results in mid-February, the world number one in aeronautics which has already recorded more than 8,700 orders and can boast of more than eleven years of guaranteed production, warned that it was postponing by one year, from 2025 to 2026, its objective of releasing seventy-five A320s per month from its assembly lines compared to around fifty today.
Discussions to buy Spirit Aerosystems
Despite the avalanche of orders, Boeing has not yet finished with its production quality concerns, particularly that of its medium-haul 737 Max. To try to remedy this, the American aircraft manufacturer confirmed, Friday 1er March, that it had begun discussions to buy its supplier Spirit AeroSystems. Precisely the subcontractor involved in the Alaska Airlines 737 Max incident where a door came off in mid-flight on January 5. “We confirm that our collaboration has resulted in preliminary discussions for Spirit AeroSystems to once again become part of Boeing”indicated the Seattle industrialist in a press release.
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