American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world. Impressively, the carrier has an average fleet age of just under 11 years. While much of this is powered by newer Boeing 787s and Airbus A321s, the airline does have some aircraft over 20 years old in its fleet. Here are the oldest planes in American's fleet.
The Airbus A320s
According to data from Planespotters, American's average fleet age is only about 10.8 years. The oldest of these are the Airbus A320-200s. The oldest of these, N647AW, N649AW, N102UW, N650AW, and N651AW, are all 22-years-old.
All of these jets are legacy America West planes, which merged with US Airways back in 2005. N102UW was legacy US Airways. These planes all became part of American's fleet when US Airways and American merged in 2013.
Next up, part of the same aircraft family, are the Airbus A319s. There are nine 21-year-old Airbus A319s in American's fleet. These are:
- N700UW,
- N801AW,
- N701UW,
- N703UW,
- N702UW,
- N802AW,
- N803AW,
- N704US,
- and N705UW.
The Airbus aircraft can be mainly found out of legacy US Airways hubs like Charlotte, and perform a lot of domestic hops to cities like Washington, D.C., Austin, New Orleans, San Antonio, and more.
The oldest 777-200ER
American's next oldest-plane is also the airline's oldest 777. N770AN is a 21-year-old Boeing 777-200ER. American also has ten other 777-200ERs that are 21-years old. These are N771AN through N780AN.
The 777s can be found on routes to London-Heathrow, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and others internationally. Domestically, these planes do make some hops between major hubs like Dallas and Miami or else transcontinental flights between Miami and Los Angeles.
Oldest 737-800s
The oldest Boeing 737-800 aircraft are also about 21-years old. There are around 24 of these planes in American's fleet. The oldest out of the 737-800s is N901AN, which first came to the airline in early 1999. Plenty of others soon followed. This continues all the way up to N925AN and are the airline's oldest 737-800s.
The 737s are American's true short-haul workhorse. These planes can commonly be found flying to cities like Mexico City, Austin, Boston, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and more.
Retiring older aircraft
American Airlines is pushing forward with its fleet revitalization by taking new aircraft. The airline has planned to spend $8.4 billion on new planes as it draws out older aircraft like Boeing 757s and 767s. In the last few years, the airline also waved goodbye to the older MD-80 aircraft, of which the airline was a big operator.
Older 737s may also be on their way out– especially if the Boeing 737 MAX is recertified. Over the next few months, some of these planes may no longer be flying for the airline.
The airline has also identified older 777s as possible candidates for replacements with new Boeing 787s.
What is the oldest American Airlines aircraft that you have flown on? Let us know in the comments!