American cuts intl. flight plans citing Boeing 787 delays

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines is dropping some international flights from its plans for next summer because Boeing has failed to deliver planes that the airline ordered, according to an internal memo Thursday.

Boeing has been unable to deliver its 787 jetliner, which it calls the Dreamliner, for about a year because of a series of manufacturing problems. The twin-aisle jet is popular with airlines for long flights because of its improved fuel efficiency over older planes of similar size.

American had expected 13 more Dreamliners in its fleet by this winter. Without those planes, “we simply won’t be able to fly as much internationally as we had planned next summer, or as we did in summer 2019,” Chief Revenue Officer Vasu Raja said in the memo to American’s employees.

Boeing, based in Chicago, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the memo, American won’t fly to Edinburgh, Scotland; Shannon, Ireland; or Hong Kong next summer and won’t bring back some destinations it served in 2019, including Prague. It will also cut the number of flights it hoped to offer to destinations in Asia, including Shanghai, Beijing and Sydney and will delay starting new service including flights between Seattle and Bangalore, India.

American “will do our best to minimize the damage these aircraft delivery delays have caused to our long-haul portfolio” while giving customers certainty about flights as they book summer travel, Raja said in the memo, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.