American Airlines announces new routes on their premium reconfigured 787 aircraft

Fort Worth-based carrier, American Airlines, announces additions to their recently announced 787-9 premium configuration aircraft. The difference for the premium layout is that there are 21 more business class seats and 11 more premium economy seats, in addition to a newer and nicer product. American flies three 787 aircraft daily from hub Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow. American noticed that dozens of seats in the main cabin were often empty; business class and premium economy class, in contrast, were commonly sold out weeks in advance. American corporate noticed similarities on other routes. They decided they needed an aircraft premium-focused that’s not a 777 that can fly from hubs like Chicago and Philadelphia that aren’t set up for those types of aircraft. Ordering new aircraft will take many years, so they took a look at what’s on order, and they have nearly three dozen 787-9 aircraft on order. American decided that a premium reconfiguration for some 787-9 aircraft would be the best offering due to the fact that most destinations in need of premium heavy aircraft likely don’t need a huge coach cabin. Making this a perfect fix to the supply and demand chain on some routes for American. As American is taking delivery of these aircraft, they have started by basing them in Chicago. On June 5th, 2024, it was swapped with a normal configuration 787-9 on flight 98 from Chicago to London Heathrow, and for familiarizing the crew, it is operated temporarily from Chicago to Los Angeles.  American decided that starting next week, they will be substituting the other two base configuration 787-9 flights from Chicago to London to be replaced by two premium configuration versions. Following this, American will be introducing this aircraft configuration to Philadelphia, with two daily flights on this configuration to London Heathrow daily starting August 6th, followed by service to Zurich, Switzerland, starting September 3rd. Shortly after American is adding this configuration to their headquarters, Dallas Fort Worth, on October 25/26th, with services to London Heathrow, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Brisbane, Australia, and in January, Auckland, New Zealand.  This is huge for American, with their SVP of network and schedule planning, Brian Znotins, adding “In addition to giving customers more premium seat offerings in key markets, we are also expanding this product to some of our longest routes, giving travelers an elevated experience when traveling to exciting destinations” and “At American, we know our customers are counting down the days to their next vacation, and we’re excited to expand our newly debuted Flagship Suite® seats to new long-haul destinations.” For American, this will allow for fewer seats empty and more premium seats sold, generally speaking, where they make the most profit. American is one of the biggest carriers worldwide, and this shows them continuing to expand and also improve customer experience while doing it. This will hopefully help American fix their problems of a shortage of long-haul aircraft. This is an amazing expansion with great potential.