American Airlines has chosen to receive Airbus A319 aircraft and A321 aircraft in its first round of deliveries from Airbus as a result of this summer’s order.  So far, it isn’t know how many of each will be received. 

The A319 choice surprised me somewhat.  Some speculated it would be ordered as a gap filler between AA’s 160 seat 737-800 and its largest regional jet, the CRJ-700 which has about 65 seats.  AA’s MD-80 aircraft are configured with 140 seats.  The A319, in American Airlines configuration, should have about 126 seats based on my research into how other SuperLegacy airlines are using the aircraft.  Delta has 126 seats on its A319s, United has 120 seats (but with Economy Plus in the mix) and US Airways has 124 seats.  I expect American to meet or beat Delta’s seat count. 

I myself didn’t expect the A319 to be selected because it is heavier aircraft and the costs to operate it are similar to the A320 much as what has developed between the 737-700 and the -800 on the Boeing side.  I actually thought that something such as the CSeries might get considered as that gap filler.  The A319 offers a bit more flexibility on payload and range but the CSeries would offer better trip costs most likely. 

Unlike many, I don’t regard the CSeries as a program that will fail.

The A321 was the no-brainer.  It will fill the 757-200 role nicely on most domestic routes.  I would expect these to be configured with about 185 seats on anything but specially configured international aircraft.  US Airways has 183 seats on its A321 aircraft but, again, I expect American Airlines to beat that number by a few seats.   Current American Airlines 757-200 aircraft have 182 or 189 seats depending on the mission its configured for.  I expect we’ll see something close to 189 seats for AA’s A321s with the remaining 757-200s to be reconfigured for those long, thin trans-continental and trans-Atlantic flights. 

But here is the real surprise for me:  The A319s will have CFM engines and the A321s will have IAE V2500 engines.   While you can choose from either manufacturer on both airframes, American has decided that commonality is trumped by mission performance evidently.  Again, I would have expected American to probably go with CFM on both airframes if only because they do have some experience with the engines as a function of owning the 737-800. 

However, the IAE is reportedly the better performer for longer duration flights and it would appear that the planners at American would prefer to optimize performance of the aircraft according to its expected mission as opposed to reduce costs by having a common engine family.  Contrary to what some may think, I think that’s the right decision.  SuperLegacy airlines will own enough of an aircraft/engine family to enjoy economies of scale and it is no longer necessary to try to maximize cost benefits by sticking to one aircraft type and one engine.

In other words, buy the aircraft and engine that best fits the expected mission should be the purchase strategy we’ll see not only from American Airlines but other SuperLegacy airlines as well.

Filed under: Airline Fleets by ajax