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Snapshot: A Look at American Airlines by the Numbers

Zach Wichter
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Zach Wichter covers the aviation industry for TPG. He previously worked for The New York Times.
Aug. 26, 2019
•
3 min read
American Airlines Planes at O'Hare
Snapshot: A Look at American Airlines by the Numbers
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American Airlines traces its history back to a 1926 mail courier flight piloted by Charles Lindbergh. Within 10 years, those mail courier routes had formed the foundation of a company that would become one of the world's leading passenger carrier.

Following its merger with US Airways, announced in 2013, American has spent most of this decade as the world's largest airline. The carrier can still boast of the title by some metrics — it still has more planes than any other airline, for example — but Delta and United also can now claim the top spot by other commonly used measures.

American was long known for its bare-metal livery, which can still be seen on its MD-80s for a few more weeks. But aside from the MD-80, American's fleet now sports a silvery-white paint scheme that was adopted around the same time American began flying planes with composite fuselages.

Here are some other key facts and figures:

Headquarters: Fort Worth, Texas

CEO: Doug Parker

Destinations: 365 in 61 countries

Hubs: Charlotte, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Phoenix Sky Harbor and Washington Reagan National

Daily Departures: About 6,800

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Frequent-Flyer Program: AAdvantage

Frequent-Flyer Alliance: Oneworld

Related: Choosing the Best Credit Card for American Airlines Flyers

Busiest Airports by Number of AA Passengers in 2018:

  1. Dallas/Fort Worth (55.06 million)
  2. Charlotte (40.33 million)
  3. Miami (28.36 million)
  4. Chicago O'Hare (27.55 million)
  5. Philadelphia (21.09 million)
  6. Phoenix (19.79 million)
  7. Los Angeles (16.41 million)
  8. Washington Reagan National (11.03 million)
  9. New York LaGuardia (7.73 million)
  10. New York John F. Kennedy (6.89 million)

Source: Diio by Cirium

Related: American Airlines’ Phoenix Hub is Still Growing; Carrier Adds 3 New Routes

Busiest Airports by Average Daily Departures on AA in 2018:

  1. Dallas/Fort Worth (719)
  2. Charlotte (617)
  3. Chicago O'Hare (437)
  4. Philadelphia (346)
  5. Miami (324)
  6. Phoenix (252)
  7. Washington Reagan National (224)
  8. Los Angeles (196)
  9. New York LaGuardia (143)
  10. New York John F. Kennedy (87)

Source: Diio by Cirium

Related: An MD-80? The Truth Behind This Tiny American Airlines ‘Plane’ Parked at O’Hare

Planes in American's Fleet (Including Regional Affiliates)*

  • Boeing 787 (42)
  • Boeing 777 (67)
  • Boeing 767 (15)
  • Boeing 757 (34)
  • Boeing 737 (344)
  • Airbus A330 (24)
  • Airbus A321 (219)
  • Airbus A321neo (12)
  • Airbus A320 (48)
  • Airbus A319 (133)
  • McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 (30 in 2018, will be retired in September)
  • Embraer E190 (14)
  • Canadair CRJ 900 (125)
  • Canadair CRJ 700 (121)
  • Canadair CRJ 200 (19)
  • Embraer E175 (174)
  • Embraer E145 (118)
  • Embraer E140 (46)

Source: *Numbers show American's expected year-end fleet count (including regional affiliates) for 2019, per the company's July 25, 2019, filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related: American Airlines: Reviews, Deals, News & Guides

Contributing: Edward Russell, The Points Guy

Featured image by Corbis via Getty Images