FORT WORTH—American Airlines has announced a massive shift towards larger aircraft on international, domestic and regional routes to handle the large amounts of nonrevs the airline is facing. “We’re listening to the market and the market has spoken,” Chairman Doug Parker told RWY37 News in an interview on Wednesday. “There is a massive amount of nonrevs trying to get seats at our hubs as well as our other stations, especially on weekends and on weekdays. It’s a market largely ignored by our competitors, and American Airlines is ready to tap that market.”
Parker announced upcoming equipment changes throughout the schedule towards mainline narrowbody aircraft on regional routes and widebody equipment and increased frequencies in domestic markets.
“Have you ever tried nonreving on an east coast hub-to-hub on Labor Day weekend or basically at any time in December or during the Summer holidays? I mean I’m obviously above you on the list being Chairman and all, but even I have spent my fair share of nights hanging around the deserted Concourse B. There is a lot of potential here, even if it means bringing planes back from the desert or delaying the retirement of our 767 and older vintage A330 fleets. We’re aiming to fly 90% of standby pasengers by early 2024 and to introduce guaranteed nonrev clearance before the holiday season.”
American Airlines has also announced a large scale investment into a fleetwide refurbishment and expansion of premium cabins to handle all the complimentary upgrades.