Citing Dreamliner Delay, American Trims Summer Schedule

American Airlines plans to cut additional summer service beyond what was announced in December due to what it called Boeing's continued delays in delivering new 787-8 aircraft, known as the Dreamliner, according to an internal announcement the carrier filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

American said it had expected Boeing to deliver all 13 of its delayed 787 Dreamliners in 2022, but it now expects to receive 10 this year, with the remaining three delivered in 2023. As a result, American will delay the launch of its flight between Dallas-Fort Worth and Tel Aviv. It also will temporarily suspend service on three routes: between Seattle and Heathrow, Dallas-Fort Worth and Santiago, Chile, and Los Angeles and Sydney. The airline also will reduce service between Miami and São Paulo to once daily.

On its fourth-quarter earnings call in January, American CFO Derek Kerr said, "we had originally thought we could get all 13 [planes] in the summer, but pulled that down to four. And we have had really good discussions with Boeing, and I think they are on track as of today to hit that mid-April timeframe."

The internal announcement noted that Boeing would compensate the carrier for "their inability to deliver the aircraft."

On that January call, Kerr also noted that "we have been told from the highest level of the Boeing team that if there is compensation needed to come to the airline that they are fully abreast to help us and to overcome the cost that the … delay in those aircraft has cost us over the last few years. And that's a negotiation we will have with the Boeing team."

American isn't the only airline facing delayed delivery of Boeing 787s. In a January earnings call, United Airlines CFO Gerry Laderman said that the eight 787s that were initially expected in the first half of 2021 would now be delivered after summer 2022, "contributing to about 1.5 points less capacity versus our original plan."