American Airlines has entered into an agreement with Boeing to rearrange previous aircraft purchases, now inking a deal for 30 737 MAX jets amid the ongoing Dreamliner delays.
In a filing released on Wednesday, American agreed to purchase an additional 23 737 MAX 8 aircraft through the conversion of existing purchase options.
Additionally, the carrier will convert a further seven of its purchase options in 2022, bringing its firm order to 30 of the narrowbody aircraft.
The news comes six months after Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner deliveries were first halted due to manufacturing issues near the nose, impacted by the company’s shimming process.
Deliveries were expected to restart in late October, but airlines are still awaiting their overdue aircraft.
According to the filing, 15 of the jets are scheduled for delivery in 2023 and 15 for 2024, but this is subject to change.
In December 2021, American was forced to cancel a number of international services ahead of the 2022 summer schedule due to the delays.
The Fort Worth-based carrier resorted to halting services to Edinburgh in Scotland and Shannon in Ireland, and discontinued services to Hong Kong due to low demand in Asia.
Last week, Boeing released its fourth quarter results from 2021 which showed the 787 program cost the company US$3.5 billion in non-cash charges, solely from actions focused on resuming deliveries.
David Calhoun, Boeing’s president and chief executive officer said the company was “progressing through a comprehensive effort to ensure every airplane” conforms to correct specifications.
“While this continues to impact our near-term results, it is the right approach to building stability and predictability as demand returns for the long term,” he said.
While American boasts a much larger 737 fleet over the Dreamliners, the 787 purchase initially was to replace ageing Airbus A330 and Boeing 767 jets.
Despite the delays, the order for more MAX jets bodes well for Boeing as the planemaker rises from the ongoing scrutiny following the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Additionally, American and Boeing agreed to defer the delivery of certain Dreamliner aircraft that were originally scheduled for January 2023, now seeing these commence in the fourth quarter of that year until 2027.
Due to the order shuffle, Boeing expects its full year capital expenditures to be approximately US$2.669 billion, compared to a previously smaller estimate.
