Delays suffered by the manufacturer while it resolves the production issues of its flagship aircraft began to complicate the operations of some companies. The world’s largest airline in terms of passenger volume, American Airlines, announced that it will have to delay the start of some of the routes it had announced.
This is due to the countless production problems of the Boeing model, which have stalled deliveries for almost a year. American has announced in a press release that it will not fly to Edinburgh (Scotland), Shannon (Ireland), and Hong Kong, both routes it had planned to inaugurate next summer. Flights to Prague or Dubrovnik – suspended since 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak – will also not resume, and the inauguration of some routes announced prior to the pandemic, such as Seattle to Bangalore, will be delayed.
“Without these aircraft, we will simply not be able to operate at the level we had planned,” noted Vasu Raja, American’s Chief Revenue Officer, in an internal company memorandum obtained by Reuters’ David Shepardson. “Although temporarily, we will significantly decrease frequency to some Asia-Pacific destinations such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Sydney.”
New: @AmericanAir cutting some summer international flights citing Boeing 787 delayed deliveries pic.twitter.com/WLApJrBHtx
— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) December 9, 2021
According to the Wall Street Journal, American had planned to offer international scheduling close to 89% of the pre-pandemic level in the summer of 2022. The figure will now be around 80% and will focus on maintaining its presence in Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America, London, Dublin, and Madrid.
American, like a number of airlines around the world, has bet on Boeing’s widebody as a fundamental pillar of its long-haul operations. Early last year, with the outbreak of the pandemic, American accelerated the withdrawal of its older aircraft, confident that 787s would be delivered to replace them. This did not happen: the airline took delivery of just one aircraft during a brief ramp-up of deliveries in early 2021. This was the only unit received for the year.
See also: FAA issues first airworthiness directive on 787 quality issues
Sources within American say it is now uncertain when the remaining 787s will arrive. The same thing happened to United: of eight 787s it expected to receive in the latter half of 2021, it did not receive any. The airline reported that it is working with Boeing to try to find some solution to the logistical problem created by the delivery delays.
Boeing expects to hopefully resume delivery of units on April 1, 2022. Nevertheless, it does not exclude further delays. According to Cirium analysts’ estimates, by this date, 66 aircraft already built will be within the deadline to be canceled without penalty ( standard clause in aircraft purchase contracts allows the buyer to terminate the deal without charge if delivery is delayed for more than a year due to circumstances unrelated to the buyer). Boeing “would be in contact with potential customers for these aircraft” in the event the orders were canceled. Regardless of delivery delays, the 787 continues to be an extremely attractive aircraft for companies because of its low operating cost.
A few months ago, American executives informed Boeing that if delays continued, the airline “could cancel some orders”. David Calhoun, Boeing CEO, assured during a call with Robert Isom, American’s interim president and CEO, that the manufacturer would “compensate” airlines for the delays.
