This December, American Airlines is planning an interesting aircraft switch on its popular transatlantic route from New York JFK Airport to London Heathrow (LHR). While this corridor is typically the domain of the US ‘big three’ legacy carrier and oneworld founding member’s Boeing 777 aircraft, certain rotations will use the 787.
The move comes as American Airlines rolls out a low-density, premium-heavy seating configuration on its Boeing 787-9 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft, with the lucrative route from New York to London being the ideal proving ground for such a layout. Interestingly enough, the carrier has never served this route with any 787 before.
Reduced Capacity Offers A Perfect Proving Ground For The Premium Layout
Photo: Airlinephoto | Shutterstock
Readers who have flown to or from London Heathrow Airport will know that American Airlines planes are a common sight, with the carrier connecting various stateside locations with the British hub. One of the most important of these is John F Kennedy International Airport in New York City, a route on which, according to Aero Routes, American Airlines plans to deploy its new premium-heavy Boeing 787 layout.
Indeed, the site notes that these 244-seat twinjet aircraft will be used on American Airlines flights AA100 and AA103 from December 2 to 16 this year. The former of these daily rotations leaves JFK at 18:25 and reaches Heathrow at 06:20 the next day, while the latter departs London at 10:35 and reaches New York at 15:40. Its three daily flights actually represent a winter reduction, as the airline explains:
“As part of an optimization of our winter network, American will reduce frequencies between New York (JFK) and London (LHR). Together with our partners, American offers customers the most nonstop flight options of any partnership with more than 10 daily flights between New York and London.”
A Low-Density Layout
Photo: American Airlines
According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, American Airlines currently has 27 examples of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at its disposal. These mid-sized widebody twinjet aircraft are just 6.1 years old on average, and this figure will likely drop in the coming years as it has orders for another 25 units of the type.
The vast majority of these aircraft feature a three-class layout that, according to aeroLOPA, has space for 30 business class, 21 premium economy, and 234 economy class passengers onboard, giving it a total capacity of 285 seats. However, American Airlines has recently devised a new layout for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
This, according to aeroLOPA, has just 244 seats onboard, of which 51 are used to accommodate the carrier’s Flagship Business passengers in four-abreast (1-2-1) flatbeds. The new configuration also features an upgraded premium economy cabin, with 32 recliners in a seven-abreast (2-3-2 layout). Economy only accounts for 66% of the plane’s capacity, with 161 seats in the standard 3-3-3 configuration.
Where Else Does American Airlines Fly Its Boeing 787s?
Photo: Gemma Fletcher | Shutterstock
Given that American typically deploys aircraft from the Boeing 777 family on its route from JFK to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), the presence of the 787 is notable. However, this isn’t just unusual in the context of this year, but, rather, across the carrier’s entire historical schedules, with digging by Simple Flying’s James Pearson finding that American has never deployed a 787-8 or a 787-9 on this route.
As far as the smaller 787-8 model is concerned, data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that American Airlines has scheduled 1,815 flights with the type this month. Collectively speaking, these services will offer 424,710 seats and 1,763,676,954 available seat miles, with the top routes being Miami to Philadelphia and Los Angeles to Tokyo Haneda, both of which have two return flights a day.
As for the mid-sized Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, this model has a somewhat smaller footprint at American Airlines, with the carrier having penciled in 1,240 flights, 341,141 seats, and 1,550,160,436 ASMs with the type this month. It is most popular on the transatlantic corridor from London to Chicago, with three round trips a day, while Philadelphia also sees two daily 787-9 rotations to and from London Heathrow.
