After spending $24 billion on fleet modernisation since 2013, American Airlines says it is the owner of "the youngest mainline fleet among US network carriers".
More than half of its airplanes in use at the end of 2021 were less than a decade old, the carrier said this week, giving its fleet an average of age of 11.3 years.
By its own count, over the past nine years American has retired around 670 older aircraft while buying more than 600 newer replacements, listing the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Boeing 737 MAX and the Airbus A321neo, which "incorporate the latest engine and airframe technologies".
Such recently-designed models, the airline said, accounted for 17% of its total available seat miles (ASMs) last year and contributed to what it said was "improved fuel efficiency by 10.2% compared with 2013, based on fuel burn per ASM" - or up to "1.9 billion gallons of fuel saved and 19 million metric tons of CO2 avoided" over the time.
With orders placed for 76 more aircraft, American aims to "approximately" double capacity measure in ASM by 2026 using the new generation fleet.