Seems like a good time to commemorate the @americanair 757 and 767 - over 37+ years, these jets have carried millions and made critical contributions to the history of the world’s largest airline. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2JlpvZB )">https://bit.ly/2JlpvZB&q...
The 757 is one of my favorite aircraft, and its performance is something I’ll never forget – particularly full-power takeoffs from SNA that felt like rocket launches.
The 767 is today often seen as mundane, eclipsed by more advanced jets that followed, but it’s place in history is arguably even more prominent than the 757. At AA and many other carriers, the 767 ushered in ETOPS, and paved the way for deregulation.
AA ordered 30 767s in November 1978. The order was announced weeks after domestic deregulation became law, and within days of AA announcing its relocation from NYC to DFW. AA was actively preparing for the tumult of deregulation and the 767 was a key component of that strategy.
Barely two years later, on 1/21/81, AA ordered 15 P&W-powered 757s. Designed as a 727 replacement, deliveries were to begin in 1984. But barely a year later, in February 1982, this order was cancelled as deregulation sank the industry into an economic cataclysm.
AA’s 767s, however, were delivered, with the first entering service 11/21/82 JFK-SFO. Soon the 767 was a mainstay on AA’s domestic routes. The 767 enabled the quick drawdown of AA’s remaining 707s, and the aircraft would continue to fly transcon for over 25 years.
By May 1986, AA’s 767s were plying the Atlantic, pioneering Extended Twin Engine Operations (ETOPS). Lacking a large coastal gateway like JFK, the 767 was instrumental in AA overflying the east coast to directly link DFW and ORD with European cities such as MAN, LYS, BRU and ARN.
A month later, in June 1986, with fortunes reversed from five years earlier and the “Growth Plan” in full swing, AA was accepting multiple new MD80s each month, and was ready for the 757. An order was placed for up to 100 RR-powered 757s, with the first to arrive in 1988.
In March 1987, AA became the launch customer for the 767-300ER, an extended-range variant that offered the prospect of 6,600mi range. This order was announced the same day as an order for the A300 - a plane the 767 would outlast in AA service by more than a decade.
The 767’s effects were global and local. In June 1987, Piedmont used the 767 to cross the Atlantic to LGW for the first time. Impossible to know then, the CLT hub is now the world’s third largest, and the 767 was crucial to its early development. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2wMFj4X )">https://bit.ly/2wMFj4X&q...
Four years later than originally planned, the 757 finally did enter service with AA on August 1, 1988, initially serving markets where its quiet engines and impressive takeoff performance were most needed, such as DCA and SNA.
As the 757’s performance proved invaluable domestically, the 767& #39;s economics were transformational internationally. By the 1990s, 767s were commonplace across Europe and South America as the jets flew route authorities acquired from TWA and Eastern. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2QWabH9 )">https://bit.ly/2QWabH9&q...
The collapse of Eastern, the 757 launch customer, had other effects. In 1992, 11 Eastern 757s ended up with USAir. They, and dozens more, became a staple linking now-closed hubs like BWI and PIT to the west coast. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2Jlpg0D )">https://bit.ly/2Jlpg0D&q...
AA’s fleet of 757s and 767s peaked at nearly 200 by the mid-2000s. Over nearly four decades, they& #39;ve served every hub, flown the Atlantic and Pacific, spanned the Americas, crisscrossed the US, and flown hops as short as SJU-STT (68mi), and as long as PHL-AMS (3736mi).
Over the years, in hard economic times the 757 and 767 were often the aircraft used to replace older, less efficient jets being retired. Now, in 2020, that has come full circle, and these jets are the older, less fuel efficient jets. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2xzEDzU )">https://bit.ly/2xzEDzU&q...
@americanair, like all airlines, is flying into an uncertain future. But in challenging times such as these, it’s worth remembering and appreciating the planes that carried the industry through turbulence in the past - planes like the 757 and 767. (https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="📷" title="Camera" aria-label="Emoji: Camera"> https://bit.ly/2JBnSXR )">https://bit.ly/2JBnSXR&q...
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