American Airlines has this week made the surprising announcement that it will be retiring two aircraft types from its fleet.
First, its long-haul Airbus A330-300s will be retired between 2017Â and the end of 2018. These nine aircraft were inherited from the merger with US Airways, and will be replaced by newer Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s.
American will, however, retain its 15 Airbus A330-200s.
Next, the airline has announced it will retire its Embraer 190 regional aircraft fleet.
Again, these were inherited through the merger with US Airways, and are used on shuttle services in the Philadelphia, New York and Boston regions. American has said they are simply not economical enough to use given their small size. The 20 aircraft will be phased out by the end of 2019.
Finally, as American Airlines sees its more modern long-haul fleet grow, its ageing Boeing 767-300 fleet will be further reduced to just 17 examples by the end of 2018.
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