American Airlines is being forced to reevaluate its routes in order to optimize its widebody fleet, due to delays in the delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, according to a company memo released to the SEC.
“This weekend we will load our summer 2022 long-haul schedule, but it will not have the growth we initially expected. Boeing continues to be unable to deliver the 787s we have on order, including as many as 13 aircraft that were slated to be in our fleet by this winter,” noted the memo. “Without these widebodies, we simply won’t be able to fly as much internationally as we had planned next summer or as we did in summer 2019.”
According to CNBC the company has revised the numbers of flights for the summer of 2022 downwards from 89% of 2019 flights to 80% due to the delivery delays.
The delivery of the Dreamliners has been hampered by production flaws delaying delivery of the airplanes as Boeing and federal regulators seek solutions. According to the memo Boeing will compensate American for the inability to deliver the aircraft.
Boeing stock was down 2% at midday Thursday on the NYSE.
