American Airlines is cutting back again on summer flights because Boeing can’t deliver planes that the airline ordered.
American Airlines is making further cuts in its international schedule for this summer because of delays in Boeing delivering new widebody planes.
American said Friday that it will temporarily stop service between Seattle and London, Los Angeles and Sydney, and Dallas and Santiago, Chile. It will also delay launching service between Dallas and Tel Aviv that was planned for June. In addition, it will reduce flights between Miami and Sao Paulo to once daily.
The airline said it had expected to receive 13 new Boeing 787 jetliners this year, but now expects to get only 10 of them, with the rest showing up next year.
American said Boeing has promised compensation. Chicago-based Boeing has been unable to deliver 787s because of production flaws including gaps between panels of the carbon-composite fuselage.
Fort Worth-based American had hoped to operate 89% of its summer 2019 schedule in summer 2022, but scaled that back to 80% in December because it won’t have enough planes. It dropped flights to Hong Kong, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Shannon, Ireland, and decided not to bring back 2010 destinations including Prague.
Boeing has declined to say when it expects to resume shipments of 787s, which must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.