American Airlines reduces its offer to Quito

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From the 9 of January of 2018, American Airlines reduces its offer to Quito due to equipment change, ceasing to operate the traditional Boeing 757 and changing them now for Boeing planes 737-800.

UPDATE 20/09/2017:

After publishing this post 26 July 2017, in this month of september, American Airlines has backtracked on changing teams on its flights between Miami and Quito in January as can be seen on its website and has been postponed for Sunday 4 march 2018:

The causes of this new change are not known or if the above, what it was like to start flying with Boeing 737 marking a reduction in supply since January, it was an error of the airline's GDS system. We are happy about this new news that allows Quito to maintain its offer to Miami at least until January. It's not discarded, that on certain dates before March, operate with Boeing 737-800 during low season.

Continue the post:

According to the distribution system itself (GDS) of the North American airline the change will take place the second week of January of next year, ending the uninterrupted operation of at least 15 years (surely it is a little more) of the boeing team 757-200 in Quito. This change will bring a reduction in the offer of seats.

We talked not long ago here about the operation of American Airlines in Ecuador and commented on the changes that the airline requested in its operating permit, asking to incorporate the Airbus A321 aircraft as an alternative for its flights to Quito and Guayaquil. In that post I analyzed the possibility that this plane is the natural replacement for the Boeing 757, that later the temple will be withdrawn, but I didn't think that finally AA would choose to use the Boeing 737-800 to Quito, but now it sounds much more logical.

But what is the problem with the Boeing 738? Neither, only that allows us to think about 2 possible scenarios that lead American to make this decision:

• Start looking for the replacement of the Boeing 757, where the airbus 321 could be very limited by load issues, passengers and height performance (maximum 102 passengers, unless they are the high capacity ones of a single class 181-187 passengers limited in performance), but the boeing 737 performs better on those points.
• Low demand in the market to and from Florida, thanks to the economic situation of the country and the complexity of migration to the United States in general.

let's analyze. The first point sounds quite logical, since the 757 they are leaving and each year the number of these retired aircraft will increase and their natural replacement is the Airbus A321, but mainly in the Neo version, of which American Airlines has ordered 100 from them (its capacity and configuration are not yet known). Remember that American has several models of Boeing 757 y Airbus 321, each configured for a certain type of destination such as domestic flights in the United States, transcontinental or certain destinations in Latin America.

Currently, los Boeing 757 operating to Quito can transport up to 176 passengers set to 2 lessons.

Now, The second point is very valid and in my opinion it is possibly the one that weighs the most in this decision., even more so considering that AA has more than 20 B757 still operational for proven destinations like Quito and looking for a replacement should not be so immediate. Every day stronger immigration policies towards the USA and the general decline in demand due to the economic state of the country (Ecuador) They make me think that they force or advance the withdrawal in Quito of the Boeing 757 and put the Boeing as a temporary replacement 738-800, until the new Airbus A321neo start to arrive from the 2019.

Far un Boeing 767 or larger planes of American Airlines in Quito, under the current context it is difficult, but not impossible if the market reacted and recovered the dynamism of 3 years.

The Boeing 737-800 de American Airlines

Now that we know that American's change is confirmed by their website, although there is no official statement yet (I already asked), we must think about the comforts of these planes. AA has a large fleet and many of its aircraft are, Let's say, quite old compared to new. At this point American has 2 versions of their Boeing equipment 737-800

Boeing 737-800 Version 1

These Boeing are the classic and oldest in the fleet, although they have almost the same distances between seats as the new versions, your entertainment is with general monitors, just like the boeing 757.

Boeing 737-800 Version 2

The newer ones have little less space between seats, but its entertainment is superior, by having IFE (In Flight Entertainment) individual on the back of each seat and also, many have Wi-Fi service installed on board.

Boeing 737 MAX 8

This is the good news and the one I hope to be able to rejoice in January 2018 when the first flight with the new team lands in Quito. During this 2017, American Airlines will receive its first Boeing 737 MAX 8 from 100 ordered, the newest direct from the factory, These aircraft will have the capacity to 172 passengers in 2 classes and thanks to its new technology, engines, alas (split scimitar winglets), fuselage and more, they will be able to carry more cargo and fly further than current versions.

Taking into account the new features, this version of the B737 would be the perfect replacement for Quito, where they would only get lost 4 seating (capacity of the B757 is 176 pax), but if the MAX 8 was the replacement, the customer would gain technology, security and WiFi on all aircraft, but the comfort and services would be reduced, since the new B737 MAX 8 of American Airlines will have the smallest separation of their entire fleet between seats of only 29″ and they will eliminate the IFE to reduce aircraft weight and give priority to personal entertainment by each passenger.

If they operate with Version 2 the reduction would be 104 daily seats, while with the MAX version 8 it would be just 16, being minimal.

We'll wait until January and see which of the Boeing versions 737 will come to Quito and the real reduction in passengers, since cargo is very similar to Boeing 757 and it could be said that up to a few cubic meters higher, but taking Guayaquil as a reference, where version operates 2, we are more likely to see this same version in Quito.

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