American Airlines Test Pilot Flies Boeing 777X And Calls It “AAmazing”—Could A Flagship Order Be Next?

American Airlines confirmed it is shopping for widebody aircraft, something I’d said was in the works (I’m hardly alone in that). Now an American Airlines pilot has flown Boeing’s 777-9 and calls the jet “AAmazing.” Aviation watchdog JonNYC points to the video and wryly asks whether she was doing it “just for kicks.” sooooo, I gotta wonder; this AA pilot doing some 777x flying/training(?).. Just for kicks maybe?…I mean….. this Pilot is most definitely an AA pilot– a test pilot maybe even? Ummmm. Huh. Meanwhile the pilot says “The jet is AAmazing.” Truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the training process for future pilots. The airplane is amazing and it was a gift to fly it! The folding wingtips are one super cool feature not to mention the MASSIVE new GE9X engines. This doesn’t tell us that American is ordering the 777X. Boeing has been bringing airline pilots into its certification and training work for years. The manufacturer says more than 200 airline pilots participated in 118 days of 777-9 human factors evaluations across seven locations, including Miami and Seattle. The final phase used crews from five airlines. Those were simulator evaluations, while this video shows actual aircraft time. American is actively shopping for planes and they’re a major Boeing customer. The timing is suggestive. American has a live request for proposals from both Boeing and Airbus. But Boeing would involve American pilots without an active order. The 777X Is A Much Bigger Airplane Than American Usually Wants? The 777X takes the existing 777 fuselage and adds an all-new composite wing, an updated flight deck and the 134-inch GE9X engine. It borrows cabin features from the 787, including larger windows, a lower cabin altitude, better humidity and a quieter ride. The wing spans 235 feet 5 inches in flight for better efficiency, then folds to 212 feet 9 inches on the ground so that the airplane fits at gates designed for today’s 777. The first version is the 777-9, the world’s largest twin-engine passenger jet. Boeing advertises: 375 to 450 seats in a two-class configuration 8,000 nautical miles of range A fuselage 251 feet 9 inches long—about 9 feet longer than the 777-300ER American’s premium-heavy layout would seat fewer passengers, but likely more than the 330 seats going into its retrofitted 777-300ERs. Boeing claims 20% lower fuel use than the aircraft the 777X replaces and 10% lower operating costs than competing planes. Those per-seat economics are great with a full aircraft, but American’s network hasn’t always been good filling large airplanes at high fares. And the aircraft still isn’t certified. Boeing said in July that 98% of certification flight testing was complete and it expects first delivery in 2027, which is seven years later than originally planned. No U.S. airline has ordered one. An American order now would be about its fleet for the 2030s. American Is Still Paying For Its Pandemic Fleet Bet American retired 75 long haul-capable planes during the pandemic: 24 Airbus A330s, 17 Boeing 767s and 34 Boeing 757s. That was about 40% of the fleet it could use for long haul flying. Some of the 757s and 767s were old and expensive to maintain. Giving up the relatively young A330-200s and all of the optionality that fleet provided, was an own goal. American missed much of the 2022–2024 transatlantic boom because it lacked aircraft. It blamed Boeing delivery delays, but American had also deferred ten 787-9s that were supposed to arrive in 2024 and 2025. The airline still has 19 Boeing 787-9s on firm order and options for 28 more. But it has 47 aging 777-200ERs and 20 younger 777-300ERs. Those will see retrofits and extended life. (They’re expecting 777 retirements in the 2030s.) A 777-9 Order Would Probably Be Only Part Of The Answer The 777-9 is too much airplane to replace 47 Boeing 777-200ERs one-for-one. American’s network team has spent years preferring smaller planes and additional frequencies. More 787-9s, or an Airbus A330-900 or A350-900, are better fits. But American already maintains a 20-aircraft 777-300ER subfleet for dense routes such as London Heathrow, Tokyo and Australia. A similar number of 777-9s could eventually replace those planes and add seats, while more 787s replace the 777-200ERs and provide growth. The smaller, longer-range 777-8 is still farther from passenger service. American cancelled the A350 order it inherited from US Airways and even sold its simulator, but Airbus aircraft remain on the table. Even the Boeing 787-10 is back in the conversation. Isom said in 2022 that it didn’t fit American’s network. Since then Boeing has certified a higher maximum takeoff weight, American’s strategy has shifted toward premium flying, and with a deep enough discount it could suddenly fit. Topics on this page