Throwback: When American Airlines Said Goodbye To Five Aircraft Types At Once

Shortly after the start of the pandemic lockdowns, airlines responded to record low demand by retiring many older and larger aircraft types. American Airlines, after merging with US Airways and acquiring subsidiaries like PSA Airlines, was among them. On March 13th, 2020, Governor Greg Abbot of Texas declared a state of disaster in Texas as a result of COVID-19, and on April 30th, Dallas-headquartered American Airlines announced the retirement of five aircraft types in its fleet.

The retirements consisted of 95 aircraft in total, with aircraft manufactured by Airbus, Boeing Embraer, and Bombardier. While the retirements were officially announced in April, the airline had spent much of March selling the aircraft to a variety of customers who would go on to operate them and convert some into freighter aircraft. When the retirements were announced, American Airlines added that it had already planned to retire some of the aircraft. However, the pandemic had accelerated its timeline.

Airbus A330-300

The first and only Airbus type in the lineup of retirements American Airlines announced was the A330. The airline acquired nine A330-300s alongside 15 A330-200s in its merger with US Airways in 2013. The A330-200s began entering storage as early as February 2020, with the A330-300 quickly following. All of these A330s are still in storage; however, a few examples have since been purchased by lessors such as AerSale.

The retirement of the A330 was perhaps the most controversial of the announced retirements. The airline would go on to affirm its decision after originally deleting the statement announcing its retirement. The type had previously been used on transatlantic routes from US Airways’ former hub at Philadelphia International Airport.

Embraer E190

Another controversial retirement in April 2020 was the Embraer E190. Like the A330, American Airlines acquired the E190s from its merger with US Airways in 2013. Although announced in April 2020, the retirements would continue until 2021. US Airways began taking delivery of the E190 in 2006.

The young regional jets were popular after American Airlines was done with them. While American Airlines had initially taken delivery of all but five US Airways E190s, aircraft lessors Jetran and Texas Aviation Group were quick to acquire the type. American Airlines’ former E190s are now flying with QantasLink and Bestfly Cabo Verde today.

Boeing 757-200

While the retirements of the A330 and the E190 were controversial, the retirement of the 757-200 wasn’t. American Airlines acquired a few examples of the type from its merger with US Airways, which inherited a number of those examples from its own merger with American West. American Airlines, for its part, had experience with the aircraft type.

Throughout the history of the airline, more than 177 examples of the Boeing 757-200 were flown. Some aircraft were returned off lease after their term with American, and some will be sold. Many ex-American Airlines 757-200s have become converted freighters operating for carriers such as SF Airlines in China and Cargojet in Canada. One ex-American 757-200 would be acquired and converted into a VIP configuration for the U.S. Air Force, carrying the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State on occasion.

The 757-200 was the biggest casualty of the five aircraft types. At the start of the pandemic, the airline operated 34 units. Luckily, as with American Airlines’ earlier retirements, many of these jets would find a second life. Amerijet, for example, acquired three after they were converted into freighters. However, Amerijet has recently parked its 757s and returned them.

American’s 757s have been popular with other cargo operators, while some had to wait as long as two years until movement. However, with Precision Aircraft Solutions moving into the A321 conversion process as the 757 feedstock dwindles, this is unlikely to continue much longer. More recently, New Pacific Airlines — previously known as Northern Pacific Airways — acquired four of the units and these currently fly in passenger configuration.

Boeing 767-300ER

While the A330 retirement was controversial, the retirement of two widebody types in one statement was unprecedented. The airline will retire three widebody types in 2020. At the start of the pandemic, the carrier had 17 767-300ERs that had a storied history of service with the airline. American first took delivery of the type in 1988 and assigned it on many transatlantic and Latin American routes.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

American Airlines would fly 67 of the type, most of which had already left the fleet before the start of 2020. Like the other 767-300ERs that came before it, these aircraft were ripe feedstock for cargo configuration. These aircraft would be converted by Israel Aerospace Industries in Tel Aviv (TLV) and end up with customers like DHL and Cargo Aircraft Management, who would place them with Amazon’s Prime Air.

Bombardier CRJ200

American Airlines had 15 CRJ-200s at the start of the pandemic and the small 50-seat airplane was operated by PSA Airlines for American Eagle on regional flights. These aircraft were key to serving essential air service routes. However, with the pandemic, these flights were suspended.

Photo: Air Wisconsin

Today, the pilot shortage has placed constraints and restrictions on these regional airlines’ operations, and SkyWest has only five of the type remaining in its inventory. However, these aircraft haven’t flown since their dismissal from American Airlines.

In 2022, American Airlines announced that it would return to the CRJ-200 on select regional routes. However, these were aircraft belonging to Air Wisconsin and Sky West Airlines.