American Airlines announced on Tuesday that they will be adding more high-end seats to their narrow-body aircraft and reintroducing seat-back screens that were canceled years ago. This move is aimed at competing with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines for high-spending customers in order to narrow the significant profit gap between the company and these two major competitors.
The airline, also known as American Airlines, stated that they are retrofitting their fleet to increase the proportion of first class seats and main cabin seats with extra legroom on their narrow-body aircraft, aiming to raise the percentage of high-end seats from 25% to 40%.
The reintroduction of seat-back entertainment screens signifies a reversal of the strategic decision made by American Airlines in the past to remove certain in-flight entertainment features.
About a decade ago, American Airlines decided to cut costs by canceling seat-back entertainment features on their narrow-body aircraft, citing that passengers could use their own mobile phones and tablets to watch movies and TV shows. Under the strategy known as “Project Oasis”, the company increased the seating density in the cabins and even reduced the space in the restrooms.
However, in the following years, American Airlines began to fall behind in competition with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, as high-spending passengers preferred the services of these two airlines, bringing them higher profits and gradually becoming their main source of revenue.
American Airlines expects to achieve approximate break-even in their finances this year, while Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are expected to maintain stable profits.
According to the financial reports of these three major airlines, in the second quarter of this year, American Airlines had a profit of $71 million, United Airlines had $805 million, and Delta Air Lines even reached $1.6 billion.
In a press release on Tuesday, American Airlines stated that starting in 2028, every aircraft delivered by Airbus SE and Boeing Co. to the airline will be equipped with seat-back screens.
American Airlines will also retrofit existing aircraft to ensure that all passengers in the cabins can use seat-back screens, along with other features such as Bluetooth audio connection and USB-C charging.
Heather Garboden, Chief Customer Officer of American Airlines, mentioned in an interview that the screen installation work is expected to be completed in the early 2030s, but she declined to reveal how much funding American Airlines will allocate to this project.
The ticket prices for these high-end seats may be double or even more than the price of a regular economy class ticket.