American Airlines has done something unexpected: in June 2026, CEO Robert Isom confirmed the carrier has sent formal Requests for Proposals to Boeing and Airbus for a new widebody order. The likely mission is replacing the airline's 47 Boeing 777-200ERs — aircraft mostly delivered between 1999 and 2003, with just two younger examples arriving in 2006. Many will hit 30 years of age by the 2030s.
What makes this interesting is what almost got cancelled along the way. American had planned to refit all 47 of these planes with its new Flagship Suites and a more premium cabin. That plan now looks shaky, with the more probable outcome being a partial refurbishment of newer frames while new deliveries replace the oldest aircraft and add some growth. The 777-200ERs are also the airline's least efficient widebodies, running Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines that share nothing with the rest of the fleet.
American's fleet is already lean: 137 widebodies, split between 67 777s and 70 787s, plus 19 more 787-9s on order purely for expansion. That's noticeably smaller than Delta (179 widebodies, 84 on order) or United (237, with 134 incoming), and American's long-haul network beyond Latin America is modest by comparison.
So who wins? On paper, Airbus has options. The A350-900 carries slightly more passengers than a 777-200ER and flies much further, while the cheaper, sooner-available A330-900 reportedly has American's attention. But both come with costs beyond the sticker price: American dropped its A330 fleet during the pandemic, and re-introducing Airbus widebodies means retraining pilots and maintenance staff and rebuilding a parts pool — for aircraft that burn more fuel than the 787-9s it already operates on the 12-hour trunk routes to Europe and South America where its 777-200ERs actually fly.
Boeing's pitch writes itself. The 787-9 is nearly the same size as an A330-900 with better range and fuel economy, and American already has 89 Dreamliners ordered across the -8 and -9. For routes needing more seats, the 787-10 — which American doesn't yet fly — matches the 777-200ER's mission almost exactly with near-identical operating costs to the -9. The 777X doesn't fit either: the -8 is uneconomical and the -9 is simply too big.
There's a pricing twist, too. Airbus doesn't desperately need this sale — the A350 has a massive, growing backlog and Rolls-Royce engines are sold out for years, so neither manufacturer is inclined to discount heavily. Boeing, meanwhile, has every incentive to price aggressively to keep Airbus from gaining a foothold at American.
For travellers, the practical takeaway: expect the Dreamliner to increasingly carry American's Europe and South America flying through the late 2020s and 2030s, with newer cabins arriving either way — but the fate of those promised Flagship Suite retrofits on the aging 777-200ERs is now genuinely up in the air.
Story via Simple Flying.
