AA currently has 20 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in its fleet, 22 new 787s will more than double the size of its -8 fleet. This new order, as discussed in other forums, will add another 25 planes to AA’s 787-9 fleet, bringing the total to 47. With the substantial growth of the Dreamliner fleet, and the decomissioning of 767s, 757s, 330s, etc. Where can we expect these aircraft to be based? Any ideas on routes?


Thanks!

Probably see a lot of the -8s where the 763s currently operate. ORD and MIA will be big ones.

Any word if any of the -9s will be coming to ORD?

fightforlove wrote:

Any word if any of the -9s will be coming to ORD?

With most of the A330s being in PHL and CLT, wouldn't we expect -9s to be present in those hubs?

DFW

(Assumption)
Charlotte and Philly most likely (hopefully) before Miami as the A330-300 is retired and the 767s go die in Miami and the 787-8 comes later to fill in as each 767 is sent to the graveyard. I’m only basing this assumption off how mr Vasu Raja had talked about using the 767 vs 787. And if the 767 is being drawn down so quickly and the 787-8 is the closest in capacity, it only makes sense to base the new ones in PHL and then maybe CLT (777/787-9 base as well)

ORD is a mostly 787-8 operation already.

I hope to someday see one of their 787's with the old blue white and red bare metal
A^A paint scheme, even if it has to be painted to look that way.
I know they're plastic so theres no metal to buff. :- (

csweet wrote:

fightforlove wrote:

Any word if any of the -9s will be coming to ORD?

With most of the A330s being in PHL and CLT, wouldn't we expect -9s to be present in those hubs?

The A332s are not going anywhere anytime soon and the A333 retirement has been given a stay of execution and will now be a few years from now after the 767s are gone. I would expect PHL and CLT to be the last hubs to get the 787s, especially as there is no pressing need for the 787’s range there. Even after the A330 retirements it wouldn’t surprise me if AA shifted 77Es over to those hubs over 787s.

The -9s will eventually replace the 77Es by the mid to late 20s as the 77Es will be a quarter of a century old by then, so I would expect to see -9s in MIA in the 20s.

B764er wrote:

I hope to someday see one of their 787's with the old blue white and red bare metal
A^A paint scheme, even if it has to be painted to look that way.
I know they're plastic so there s no metal to buff. :- (

Yes that would be nice, but I wouldn't expect that to happen in the near future. Because the tricolor cheatline livery is still too recent. A 788 in a retro US Air livery, the one dating from the early 90s, that would be nice too.

We are never going to see a AA widebody retrojet as long as they have the A319/738 (and single A321) retrojets. They would add to that collection before applying one to a 787.

Polot wrote:

csweet wrote:

fightforlove wrote:

Any word if any of the -9s will be coming to ORD?

With most of the A330s being in PHL and CLT, wouldn't we expect -9s to be present in those hubs?

The A332s are not going anywhere anytime soon and the A333 retirement has been given a stay of execution and will now be a few years from now after the 767s are gone. I would expect PHL and CLT to be the last hubs to get the 787s, especially as there is no pressing need for the 787’s range there. Even after the A330 retirements it wouldn’t surprise me if AA shifted 77Es over to those hubs over 787s.

I disagree. The 767 is in Philly now, running PRG and BUD starting May 4th. The 787 would be the only plane capacity wise to match the 767. It was stated that the A330s were too much capacity and frankly it has nothing to do with the range of the 787. The -8 is doing ORD-DUB and all the routes the 767 used to do from ORD

Rookie87 wrote:

Polot wrote:

csweet wrote:

With most of the A330s being in PHL and CLT, wouldn't we expect -9s to be present in those hubs?

The A332s are not going anywhere anytime soon and the A333 retirement has been given a stay of execution and will now be a few years from now after the 767s are gone. I would expect PHL and CLT to be the last hubs to get the 787s, especially as there is no pressing need for the 787’s range there. Even after the A330 retirements it wouldn’t surprise me if AA shifted 77Es over to those hubs over 787s.

I disagree. The 767 is in Philly now, running PRG and BUD starting May 4th. The 787 would be the only plane capacity wise to match the 767. It was stated that the A330s were too much capacity and frankly it has nothing to do with the range of the 787. The -8 is doing ORD-DUB and all the routes the 767 used to do from ORD

The 788 in the expected PremEco configuration (replacing 8 J with 21 W) will be about 239 seats, only 8 fewer than the 332s with W.

I see the 330s consolidating at PHL except for a couple 772s to LHR (higher J count) and some 321neo to smaller TATL cities, with any remaining 330s going to LatAm routes out of MIA. 788s will be put on the CLT TATL routes.

Rookie87 wrote:

Polot wrote:

csweet wrote:

With most of the A330s being in PHL and CLT, wouldn't we expect -9s to be present in those hubs?

The A332s are not going anywhere anytime soon and the A333 retirement has been given a stay of execution and will now be a few years from now after the 767s are gone. I would expect PHL and CLT to be the last hubs to get the 787s, especially as there is no pressing need for the 787’s range there. Even after the A330 retirements it wouldn’t surprise me if AA shifted 77Es over to those hubs over 787s.

I disagree. The 767 is in Philly now, running PRG and BUD starting May 4th. The 787 would be the only plane capacity wise to match the 767. It was stated that the A330s were too much capacity and frankly it has nothing to do with the range of the 787. The -8 is doing ORD-DUB and all the routes the 767 used to do from ORD

The A332 will have capacity close to the 788. It is widely expected that the 788s will be losing some J seats and gaining more seats overall when they are reconfigured to add PE.

But the Boeing 787-8 is good for transatlantic routes, British Airways uses most of its Boeing 787-8 for North America and India, the only ones of the long route as such are Seoul (ICN) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Japan Airlines also uses most of its Boeing 787-8 on medium-haul routes such as Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Shanghai, Beijing, among other cities, Qatar Airways uses its Boeing 787-8 is short routes, Air India most of their Dreamliners make short and medium-range routes, I do not see the problem of using the Boeing 787-8 in their Philadelphia Hubs (PHL), Charlotte (CLT) and Miami (MIA), in fact Delta & United should already get rid of of your old B763 and give way to the Boeing 787-8

I do not understand the drama with the range

RainerBoeing777 wrote:

But the Boeing 787-8 is good for transatlantic routes, British Airways uses most of its Boeing 787-8 for North America and India, the only ones of the long route as such are Seoul (ICN) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Japan Airlines also uses most of its Boeing 787-8 on medium-haul routes such as Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Shanghai, Beijing, among other cities, Qatar Airways uses its Boeing 787-8 is short routes, Air India most of their Dreamliners make short and medium-range routes, I do not see the problem of using the Boeing 787-8 in their Philadelphia Hubs (PHL), Charlotte (CLT) and Miami (MIA), in fact Delta & United should already get rid of of your old B763 and give way to the Boeing 787-8

I do not understand the drama with the range

Obviously you can use the plane on shorter routes but the priority will be the longer 767/77E routes first as that is where the 787’s fuel efficiency gains will be most realized.

Most of examples you give are airlines with a single hub, and it should be noted how UA barely uses the 787 from EWR.

Polot wrote:

RainerBoeing777 wrote:

But the Boeing 787-8 is good for transatlantic routes, British Airways uses most of its Boeing 787-8 for North America and India, the only ones of the long route as such are Seoul (ICN) and Rio de Janeiro (GIG), Japan Airlines also uses most of its Boeing 787-8 on medium-haul routes such as Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Shanghai, Beijing, among other cities, Qatar Airways uses its Boeing 787-8 is short routes, Air India most of their Dreamliners make short and medium-range routes, I do not see the problem of using the Boeing 787-8 in their Philadelphia Hubs (PHL), Charlotte (CLT) and Miami (MIA), in fact Delta & United should already get rid of of your old B763 and give way to the Boeing 787-8

I do not understand the drama with the range

Obviously you can use the plane on shorter routes but the priority will be the longer 767/77E routes first as that is where the 787’s fuel efficiency gains will be most realized.

Most of examples you give are airlines with a single hub, and it should be noted how UA barely uses the 787 from EWR.

The priority is mostly to replace the Boeing 767, even American Airlnes has Boeing 787-9 in order other than the 25 I ordered recently, the Boeing 777-200ER have to be replaced by the Boeing 787-9, and the Boeing 787 -8 are perfect for fulfilling their routes to South America from MIA to EZE, SCL, GRU, GIG, LIM even BOG, LATAM use their B788 from LIM and SCL to LAX, JFK and MIA, and most of the European routes of PHL and CLT are more than 8 hours nor are they so short

Air Canada varies its Boeing 787-8 in several of its Hubs Vancouver (YVR), Montreal (YUL), Calgary (YYC) and Toronto (YYZ), are used in transpacific routes and mostly transatlantic routes, Hainan Airlines uses its Boeing 787 in multiple hubs (PEK, PVG, SXZ, CAN, CKG, CTU), Norwegian Air Shuttle uses the Boeing 787 Dreamliners in all its transatlantic routes from its different bases (LGW, BCN, FCO, OSL, ARN, CPH, between others)

lowfareair wrote:

Rookie87 wrote:

Polot wrote:

I see the 330s consolidating at PHL except for a couple 772s to LHR (higher J count) and some 321neo to smaller TATL cities, with any remaining 330s going to LatAm routes out of MIA. 788s will be put on the CLT TATL routes.

Let's hope the 321neos don't do TATL. Didn't AA finally get rid of all of the 757 TATL flying by moving the 763 to PHL?

soflaflyer wrote:

lowfareair wrote:

Rookie87 wrote:

Let's hope the 321neos don't do TATL. Didn't AA finally get rid of all of the 757 TATL flying by moving the 763 to PHL?

They still fly JFK-DUB and JFK-EDI on the 757. Yes, it is true, a lot of TATL markets that used to see the 757 a few years ago no longer do, those markets are BRU, CDG, MAD and MAN, as far as I know. CDG stopped seeing the 757 a flew months ago.

Destinations served with 767 TATL flying out of JFK: CDG and MAD. That's it.

soflaflyer wrote:

lowfareair wrote:

Rookie87 wrote:

Let's hope the 321neos don't do TATL. Didn't AA finally get rid of all of the 757 TATL flying by moving the 763 to PHL?

They are still flying PHL-SNN/GLA this summer, PHL-AMS for a month or so in May, and I believe DFW-KEF as well (not technically TATL, but a similar length as the PHL flights and to a country that is at least politically in Europe).

I could see PHL-SNN/GLA/OPO/EDI/KEF/BRU all eventually being 321neo/LR, and depending on final range and configuration of the LRs (they will need lieflats in J to do Europe per their JV with IAG so they should have some wiggle room for fuel that Norwegian and Primera won't have), I could see GVA/DUS/PRG being possible in the summer season.

lowfareair wrote:

soflaflyer wrote:

lowfareair wrote:

Let's hope the 321neos don't do TATL. Didn't AA finally get rid of all of the 757 TATL flying by moving the 763 to PHL?

They are still flying PHL-SNN/GLA this summer, PHL-AMS for a month or so in May, and I believe DFW-KEF as well (not technically TATL, but a similar length as the PHL flights and to a country that is at least politically in Europe).

I could see PHL-SNN/GLA/OPO/EDI/KEF/BRU all eventually being 321neo/LR, and depending on final range and configuration of the LRs (they will need lieflats in J to do Europe per their JV with IAG so they should have some wiggle room for fuel that Norwegian and Primera won't have), I could see GVA/DUS/PRG being possible in the summer season.

You're killing me...LOL

soflaflyer wrote:

lowfareair wrote:

soflaflyer wrote:

Let's hope the 321neos don't do TATL. Didn't AA finally get rid of all of the 757 TATL flying by moving the 763 to PHL?

They are still flying PHL-SNN/GLA this summer, PHL-AMS for a month or so in May, and I believe DFW-KEF as well (not technically TATL, but a similar length as the PHL flights and to a country that is at least politically in Europe).

I could see PHL-SNN/GLA/OPO/EDI/KEF/BRU all eventually being 321neo/LR, and depending on final range and configuration of the LRs (they will need lieflats in J to do Europe per their JV with IAG so they should have some wiggle room for fuel that Norwegian and Primera won't have), I could see GVA/DUS/PRG being possible in the summer season.

You're killing me...LOL

I don't see most of those happening, but I also see AA using 321neo/LR at some point on TATL, solely from a capacity perspective. The smallest widebody aircraft in the fleet will soon be a 239 seat 788. Pretty big jump in capacity over the 176 seat 757 and 204 seat 767 which fly over a third of the daily PHL TATL flights currently.

Wherever the B763 flies is likely a B788 in the future. Where the B77E flies will be a B789. I see AA going to B77Ws mainly out of DFW and LAX, and B788/9 from all other hubs except PHL and CLT, using the A332/3.

Currently many AA 787-8 are in Chicago for flights to Tokyo, Peking, Shanghai and London Heathrow. The 787-9 fly from DFW and LAX to Asia Pacific destinations. Its going to be a long time before 787 go to PHL & CLT with the A330-200 fleet still young, some 777 could do LHR flights. Miami could be 787 as they replace 777 and sooner if flights to Tokyo or South Africa ever happen. When all the 787 are delivered all the hubs should have 787 but today they are used for specific needs to Asia and LHR.

jfk777 wrote:

Currently many AA 787-8 are in Chicago for flights to Tokyo, Peking, Shanghai and London Heathrow. The 787-9 fly from DFW and LAX (Los Angeles - International) to Asia Pacific destinations. Its going to be a long time before 787 go to PHL & CLT with the A330-200 fleet still young, some 777 could do LHR - (London - Heathrow) flights. Miami could be 787 as they replace 777 and sooner if flights to Tokyo or South Africa ever happen. When all the 787 are delivered all the hubs should have 787 but today they are used for specific needs to Asia and LHR - (London - Heathrow).

All international TATL and TPAC flights from ORD are 788s. They get a few 767s to MIA, that's it on wodebody flights this Summer.

I'd expect MIA next. They are unlikely to move the 330 bases so PHL/CLT out for a while. With the multiple 77W flighta from JFK more likely to 77Es for other international from there. That leaves MIA, as most likely spot for next 787 base.