American Airlines announced on Tuesday that it will increase the number of premium seats and reinstall seatback entertainment screens on its narrowbody aircraft. The move is part of a strategy by CEO Robert Isom to attract higher-spending travelers and close a financial performance gap with competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
The airline plans to increase premium seating to approximately 40% of its narrowbody capacity, up from roughly 25% currently. This expansion will include additional first-class seats and main cabin seats with extra legroom, to be implemented through aircraft reconfigurations and the arrival of new jets.
The decision to restore seatback screens marks a change in direction for the carrier, which began removing them nearly a decade ago in favor of personal device streaming. American cited changing passenger preferences, particularly among younger travelers, and improvements in high-speed satellite Wi-Fi as the primary reasons for the reversal.
For passengers, the day-to-day change will be a return to fixed monitors for movies and television, supplementing their own mobile devices. These changes are not immediate; retrofits for existing planes and the delivery of new Airbus and Boeing jets equipped with the screens are scheduled to begin in 2028. The airline expects the full fleet update to be completed in the early 2030s.
The policy follows internal pressure on management, including calls from flight attendants and pilots for leadership changes due to lagging profitability. While Delta and United have forecast solid profits, American expects roughly break-even results for the current year. The success of this capital investment will be measured by whether it can narrow the "meaningful gap" in performance acknowledged by Isom during a recent senior management shake-up.