American Airlines Chief Operating Officer David Seymour and Chief Customer Officer Heather Garboden spoke at the Skift Aviation Forum on Wednesday morning in Fort Worth, Texas.
Garboden discussed the airline’s plan for a premium push. While still largely in the works, the carrier is eyeing expanded premium capacity along with more premium amenities both onboard and at the airport, given the strength that premium demand has shown over the past several years.
“Premium demand has really pulled up through these uncertain economic times,” acknowledging that the high-yield customers are key to resilient financials and operations in today’s market.
Garboden added that “…even before Covid, we saw a younger generation starting to be a larger demographic of our customer base and they’re willing to pay more for experiences,” a point she also suggested in an interview back in May.
Given the promising resilience of its high-yield customer base, American is planning to increase premium seating by 30% over the next decade and by 50% on long-haul routes, according to Skift.
Over the past decade, American Airlines has seen a reduction in premium seating, particularly in the long-haul market. This largely stems from the carrier’s decision to sacrifice the front cabin with the introduction of premium economy, in addition to prematurely retiring aircraft during the pandemic to simplify its fleet.
An analysis by Brett Snyder of Cranky Flier shows that the percentage of business class seats went down from 13.5% to 13.2% over the past decade.
Given the front cabin has been shown the most strength since the pandemic, this perhaps has left the airline unable to capitalize on the strong premium demand to a certain extent.
The carrier looks to reverse this trend, as it introduced a newly configured Boeing 787-9 (789P) with Flagship Suites earlier this year, and is set to become the first U.S. airline to launch the Airbus A321XLR on Dec. 18, 2025.
The new Boeing 787-9 configuration includes 51 Flagship Suite seats, accounting for over 20% of the aircraft’s total seats. In comparison, the previous configuration on the 787-9 has just 10% allocated for business class.
Meanwhile, the Boeing 777-300ER will include 70 Flagship Suite seats and 44 Premium Economy seats once retrofitted, up from 52 and 28, respectively.
Additionally, the airline’s Boeing 777-200s will also see cabin upgrades, though it is unclear yet how the new configuration will play out.
Related: A Closer Look at American’s Refurbished 777-300ER Configuration with Flagship Suites
In addition to the expansion in premium capacity, Garboden noted that the carrier will announce the addition of mattress pads to all business class seats next week, a point first highlighted by Gary Leff of View from the Wing in October.
American has already added mattress pads to its flights to East Asia, the Middle East, India, Australia, and New Zealand earlier this year. This announcement next week will bring mattress pads on flights to Europe, South America, and other remaining international flights with lie-flat seats.
Garboden also shared that the airline will make a number of announcements regarding improvements to its premium lounges next year.
Featured image by the author.
