American Airlines to Boost Premium Seats by 60 Percent on Soaring Demand
Photo Caption: American is making a multi-million dollar investment in new business class seats on its intercontinental aircraft. American Airlines
Skift Take
American Airlines says goodbye to long-haul first class as premium leisure, and blended trip, travelers pay up for business class.
American Airlines is making a big bet that the pandemic shift to more premium leisure travel, or at least premium blended travel, is here to stay. The carrier will expand the number of premium seats on its intercontinental planes by up to 60 percent over the next four years, in a move executives think will make the routes those aircraft fly even bigger money makers.
That shift is a function of many things, American Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja said in a long-winded answer during the airline's third-quarter results call Thursday. Part of it is the broader trend towards blended leisure and business trips that Raja said at the Skift Global Forum in September now make up nearly half of the carrier's revenues. "All of that is coming at a higher net yield values than what was there before," Raja said of blended and leisure premium travel today.
Another is American's pivot to more short-haul and less long-haul flying, and relying more on its international partner
