Why does AA not have any 747's

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 03 May 2005, 14:13

I recently flew on American Airlines and appreciated their 777's. I read in the in-flight magazine that they are the world's biggest airline with over 900 aircrafts!

I always wondered why AA never decided to purchase and 747 for their fleet (back in the days when 747's were popular)?

Did they ever have any? Does anyone know more info on why this major carrier doesn't have a 747?

Captain

bits44 · Post by **bits44** » 03 May 2005, 14:39

Boeing 747 - The massive Boeing 747 was the world's first jumbo jet. American Airlines first introduced the 747 in March 1970. While American used the 747 to carry passengers for only a few years, it served as an all-cargo aircraft for longer. This oversized aircraft was capable of carrying oversized cargo such as one of San Francisco's famous streetcars.

KT

B744skipper · Post by **B744skipper** » 03 May 2005, 14:59

@Captain, back in the days when the B747 was hot, a lot of airlines ordered them out of prestige. When they came into service, many airlines quickly found out that they could not fill the seats. A lot of airlines have dumped them since then (AA, Delta, Continental).

AA had also some Boeing 747SP's in the late 80/early 90's which they took over from TWA, for their long-range routes, until the B777 came which also could fly that long (but a lot cheaper).
Nowadays a B747 would be too large to fit into the AA-system, maybe they could fill them on some routes but it would uneconomically to operate just a few of them. Same goes for Delta and Continental.

When you want so extra information, use these two links:

All the info about the American Airlines B747 fleetclick
A lot of pictures of Amercian Airlines' B747's click

Btw, Herpa makes a 1/500 scale-model of the AA Boeing 747SP (unfortunately with the inaccurate metallic paint), but if you really love AA and the B747, you should keep an eye open for it.

Here is a model review about the American Airlines B747SP from Herpa.

Knight255 · Post by **Knight255** » 03 May 2005, 19:39

Something else to keep in mind is that back in the days, AA was VERY loyal to MD. Their fleet consisted primarily of DC-9's (now MD-80s) and DC-10s. They loved MD!!!! (My use of the abbreviation MD is due to my poor spelling of McDon.....)

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 04 May 2005, 04:50

Yes, they did have 747's. Very short time though. I know for a fact that they went DFW-LAX

ryanvsnow · Post by **ryanvsnow** » 04 May 2005, 05:11

You might be interested to know that AA sold two of their 74's to NASA and they are now used to transport the space shuttle.

Captain · Post by **Captain** » 05 May 2005, 18:09

I can now see that a 747 is an expensive and often not an economical choice for an airline such as AA.

I was in LAX last Saturday and noticed that many coast-to-coast fligths i.e LAX-JFK LAX-BOX were now operated by 737 and 757. It's crazy to be on a 737 for such a long flight (around 5 hours). I know they can go that far but I would much prefer to travel on a 767 or equivalent wide-body for a 5-6 hour flight, especially if doing the red-eye.

I'm wondering if Boeing's argument of the 787 (smaller planes for point-to-point travel) is not actually that stupid.

Captain.

Robin_Bamps · Post by **Robin_Bamps** » 05 May 2005, 18:14

Knight255 wrote:(My use of the abbreviation MD is due to my poor spelling of McDon.....)

Not that difficult and easy to remember... double 'n' and double 'l', so "McDonnell".

Regards, Robin Bamps.

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 05 May 2005, 18:30

yeah. I'm 13, and I know it! Although I did call it McDonald for about a year

ryanvsnow · Post by **ryanvsnow** » 06 May 2005, 06:27

Welcome to McDonald Airlines where you will be served a Big Mac with fries! All First Class Passengers will be offered a Super-Sized potion. Enjoy you flight.

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 10 May 2005, 02:40

airlines? remember, it's an aircraft. Welcome to our McDonald Douglas big mac 11

HorsePower · Post by **HorsePower** » 10 May 2005, 03:30

ryanvsnow wrote:Welcome to McDonald Airlines where you will be served a Big Mac with fries! All First Class Passengers will be offered a Super-Sized potion. Enjoy you flight.

2 Big mac, 1 big coke and a big portion of freedom fries, please!

Regards

Seb. 8)

ryanvsnow · Post by **ryanvsnow** » 10 May 2005, 07:31

Nice. DC3?

Post by **sn26567** » 10 May 2005, 10:44

Larger view of the Crossair McDonalds MD-83

Here you got McDonnell Douglas and McDonalds together

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 10 May 2005, 20:48

I forgot about Swissair and their McDonald's livery! I thought it was a nice livery overall if there was not McDonalds logo. However one of my favorite liveries is still TUI!!

livin737 · Post by **livin737** » 19 May 2005, 02:28

well the american airlines had a 747-sp and 747-200 didn't they
but i think the paint of the american airlines with the 747 didn't match

Mulanje · Post by **Mulanje** » 24 May 2005, 11:32

livin737 wrote:well the american airlines had a 747-sp and 747-200 didn't they

They even had 2 747SP's.

N601AA c/n: 21962
N602AA c/n: 21963

The ex N602AA is still in active service.

Aviation24.be

Why does AA not have any 747's

Why does AA not have any 747's

Thanks everyone for your interesting answers