A Look Inside American Airlines' New Aircraft

by  Liz Webber | Jul 23, 2012
American Airlines plane
American Airlines plane / Santiago Rodriguez Fonto/iStock

American Airlines has revealed details of the cabin interiors for some of the 460 new planes currently on order, and boy do they look snazzy. It seems AA is finally on track to catch up with the rest of the U.S. domestic carriers with seatback entertainment screens in every seat, in-flight Wi-Fi fleetwide, and power outlets and USB ports at every seat.

The new fleet will also feature more Main Cabin Extra seating – with extra legroom and priority boarding – which American began introducing earlier this year. In a first for domestic carriers, jets flying AA’s transcontinental routes will allow for three classes of seating and lie-flat seats in Business and First Classes. The new planes are set to roll out starting next summer.

American isn’t the only one updating its fleet. Earlier this month, United placed an order with Boeing for 150 new aircraft to be delivered between 2013 and 2022. The new jets promise an improvement in fuel efficiency over older models currently in operation, as well as bigger overhead bins and quieter cabins with better ventilation.

Delta was also on the hunt for new aircraft this month, but the airline didn’t sign deals with Boeing or Airbus. Instead, Delta is snatching up 88 planes that Southwest plans to get rid of as part of its acquisition of AirTran (one of the things that makes Southwest so successful is that it only uses one type of plane, and the airline wants to maintain that uniformity on AirTran flights). Delta had previously announced the delivery of 100 new Boeing jets starting in 2013.

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