American Airlines is looking at its aircraft acquisition options to extend the range of its fleet to open planned new non-stop routes from Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth to Asia.
The US carrier has applied to the US Department of Transport to operate to Beijing and Shanghai under a revised US-China bilateral that allows for 10 more frequencies from April next year.
The airline has also "had its eye on Hong Kong for some time" and, to a lesser extent, Taiwanese capital Taipei.
Its immediate focus is on operating from Chicago using twin-engined Boeing 777-200ERs, although these face possible payload/range challenges at certain times of the year.
One option being considered is a more direct routing using the yet-to-be opened transpolar routes. American is understood to be planning a demonstration flight by the end of March.
The airline will need additional capacity to the 37 Rolls-Royce Trent 800-powered 777s contracted to expand its Asian network. The aircraft has been used to replace Boeing MD-11s on services to Japan. It is increasingly being used on routes to Europe, and it was recently decided to extend the use of the aircraft to South America.
American has a large number of 777 options and is being heavily lobbied by Boeing to convert some of these to the proposed ultra-long-haul 777X growth derivatives. American needs more range than the 777-200ER can offer if it is to open a service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Asia.
The airline is understood to have been unhappy with Boeing's decision to select the General Electric GE90 as its sole-source powerplant for the 777X, particularly as it has invested heavily in Trent 800 support.
Airbus Industrie has tried to use this commitment to woo American away from its traditional reliance on Boeing.
The Trent 500-powered Airbus A340-500 will have a maximum take-off weight of 807,400lb (366,600kg) - falling outside the 363,200kg (800,000lb) ceiling set by Boeing's exclusive-supplier deal with American.
Source: Flight International
