The carrier’s largest aircraft exemplifies its big bet on premium.
Step on board American Airlines’ newly refreshed Boeing 777-300ER and one is struck by the dizzying number of suites.
The 70 business-class seats stretch from the forward galley, past doors 2L and 2R back 19 rows to doors 3L and 3R.
Beyond that, there are 44 premium economy seats before one even enters the 216-seat economy cabin. Nearly 35% of the 330 seats on the aircraft are premium or, if one includes extra-legroom economy seats, 44% are premium.
It is a big bet on premium by American in its effort to catch up with the offerings of competitors Delta Air Lines and United Airlines and live up to its “premium global carrier” aspirations.
“I have never, in my almost 30 years, taken delivery of an airplane and said ‘shoot, we have too many premium seats,’” said Nat Pieper, the chief commercial officer of American, on the sidelines of an event at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport on 2 September. “If anything, it’s the other way.”
In a sense, he is right. Using the broadest definition of “premium,” airlines in the USA have steadily added more of the seats to their planes over the past 15 years from extra-legroom seats in economy to premium economy on intercontinental aircraft and today’s suite frenzy.
The premium shift has only accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. Allegiant Air, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways are all adding domestic first class products. Alaska Airlines is preparing to unveil its first-ever long-haul business class and premium economy seats. Delta and United are refreshing their popular business class suites. And American recently announced plans to add extra-legroom economy seats to narrowbody aircraft and expand domestic first class cabins.
The number of premium seats flying in the USA increased nearly 23% to 78 million in 2025 compared to 2019, schedule data from Cirium Diio shows. The number of economy seats increased at half that rate, or nearly 12%.
As Delta’s former president Glen Hauenstein said in October 2025, once travellers get used to flying in a premium seat, whether it’s extra-legroom economy or a lie-flat suite, “tend not to go back.”
American debuted its first premium-heavy aircraft, the Boeing 787-9P (for premium), in June 2025. In the year-plus since, the airline added the Airbus A321XLR in a premium long-haul layout in December 2025 and, this month, the newly reconfigured 777-300ER. It has also opened new and refurbished lounges at airports.
The investments, so far, appear to be paying off. Premium unit revenue increased 13% year on year in the second quarter, or four percentage points faster than the growth in overall unit revenue.
Robert Isom, the chief executive of American, is bullish on the results.
“That hard product that we’re putting out in the marketplace [is] absolutely a driver of premium revenue,” he said in May.
The question is whether the investment outweighs the cost. While American has not said how much the new suites, lounges and soon in-seat screens in economy will cost, Wall Street analysts expect them to increase the airline’s annual capital expenditures.
“The airline industry has increasingly become one where incremental investment is needed to drive margins through premium travel growth,” wrote Conor Cunningham, an analyst at Melius Research, in May.
Capital expenditures at American increased from $2.7 billion in 2024 to $3.8 billion in 2025 and are forecast to hit $4 billion this year. The amount includes new aircraft purchases.
The risk is that if travel demand turns, say, for geopolitical or economic reasons outside of American’s control, it — and every airline that is investing heavily in premium — is stuck with lots of posh new seats that cannot easily or quickly be replaced.
The 777-300ER, more than any other aircraft in American’s fleet, relies on passengers willing to pay up for the new seats. The airline is deploying it in some of its highest-yielding markets to ensure it generates the necessary returns.
The first refurbished 777-300ER entered service on 2 September between New York and Buenos Aires. The plane will shift to the New York-London route later in September and, after that, fly between Dallas-Fort Worth and London. Future markets include Sao Paulo, Sydney and Tokyo.
American aims to complete retrofits of its 20 777-300ERs in 2027.
“I think we’ll be able to do really well with it,” says Pieper.
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