Rumor: American A300s to Be Retired 8/31/09

[Matt Molnar]

From a seemingly knowledgeable poster on A.net:

AA A300 Retirement Schedule Plans (http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/4199178/)

The tentative date for the final Airbus A300 revenue flights on AA will be 31st August 2009. Following that date, there are no bookable A300 flights in the system.
According to AA.com schedules, the last JFK arrival would be on August 31 at 5:25pm from MIA.

[PhilDernerJr]

It says they'll replace with with 757s and 763s, but does that mean they are cancelling other routes to free up those aircraft?

[Delta777LR]

A gentleman at LGA airliner show told me that they will all be phased out by 2009.. Im gonna miss them though, Ive flown on AA A300 a number of times.

[Matt Molnar]

It sounds like some 763 routes to South America will be replaced with 777s, and some 763 routes to Europe could be replaced with 757s. AA will also begin take delivery of the first three of their next batch of 47 new 738s early next year which could also take over some 757 routes, but their real purpose is replace MD-80s so who knows.

[T-Bird76]

Remember AA has already announced a number of route cancellation that will take place in the coming months. Some of those routes are A300 routes. They weren't a bad plane to fly on at all, wide, spacious, and smooth. Might have to take a MIA run before they are gone.

[LGA777]

As much of the A-300's MTC checks are done at JFK (the D's are done in TUL) I wonder what effect this will have on AA Mtc at JFK? The A-300 fleet has a higher than average break factor and I don't have to tell lots of the JFK regulars on this board how common it is to see 4, 5 or even more poking their tails out of AA's JFK hangars and siting outside on the ramp.



Might have to take a MIA run before they are gone.

Tommy, with all your AA miles and Hotel miles you should try something a little more exotic than MIA, those A-300's go to some pretty fun places a little south of Miami !

Cheers

LGA777

[T-Bird76]

As much of the A-300's MTC checks are done at JFK (the D's are done in TUL) I wonder what effect this will have on AA Mtc at JFK? The A-300 fleet has a higher than average break factor and I don't have to tell lots of the JFK regulars on this board how common it is to see 4, 5 or even more poking their tails out of AA's JFK hangars and siting outside on the ramp.



Might have to take a MIA run before they are gone.

Tommy, with all your AA miles and Hotel miles you should try something a little more exotic than MIA, those A-300's go to some pretty fun places a little south of Miami !

Cheers

LGA777

For a 150 r/t its good enough for a day trip. I wouldn't waste my miles to the Caribbean Ron, not worth it, been there a million times already...next trip my be Southeast Asia in First class ;)

[AA 777]

Indeed the A300's days are a lot shorter than originally thought. One side is that things from the operational side will be better on time performance and less cancelled flights. It's no secret that the A300's were hangar queens, however, AA was willing to put up with this because of the special niche markets the A300 served. On the other side of the table, cargo capacity will be reduced. The markets that the A300 served, particularly places like PAP, had more bags and cargo than one could imagine. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with less cargo capacity on the ex A300 routes.

Another aspect will be the increased premium cabin capacity on routes that will have the 763 that used to have the A300. The A300 had 16 F/J seats in a high density layout. The 763's have 30 International J seats and is way to much for markets like PAP etc. I'd expect AA to eventually reconfigure the 763's to a higher density configuration once the 787's come online...far away I know. Until then we will probably see higher overbookings of Y and op-ups to just get the plane out full.

AA will also be reconfiguring 18 757's into a International configuration that features a completely re-done cabin with a layout of 16 J and 166 Y. Both cabins will feature new seats. The J cabin will feature the "NextGen" biz class and Y will feature new seats that are supposedly an inch thinner that will allower for the same capacity with increased pitch. In addition the remaining 108 757's will get an upgrade to with a new configuration of 24/166 - again with new seats in both cabins.

Like others have said I have a feeling that certain 763 routes to Europe will become 757's to allow the 763's to fly to the ex A300 routes. So far the rumored routes will be...

JFK-BCN
JFK-ZRH
JFK-MAN
JFK-DUB
ORD-MAN
BOS-CDG
etc...

A lot of the 757 "experiment" I believe will hinge on Anti-Trust Immunity (ATI) with British and Iberia. If (WHEN) they recieve ATI, I believe that certain BA and IB routes will become American 757's that connect the USA to Madrid and Heathrow. ATI will probably bring about other new routes to link OneWorld hubs such as DFW-MAD.

The A300 has served AA well.

[PhilDernerJr]

Great input, Matt. Thanks.

[Ari707]

Remember when the A300 served JFK-LHR?