Today, American Airlines upgraded its aircraft on the popular Charlotte to London Heathrow route, adding a Boeing 777-300ER, an improvement from the existing Boeing 777-200ER.
The larger aircraft now deployed on the route will mean that American Airlines is able to offer Flagship First. The 777-300ER is fitted with eight of these premier seats in the Flagship First cabin, all with lie-flat seats and a 21.5-inch seat width.
Not only will first class bring in high-paying passengers, but also additional business, premium, and economy class capacity. The larger aircraft will expand its capacity as outlined below:
|
Aircraft |
First-class capacity |
Business class capacity |
Premium Economy capacity |
Main Cabin Extra capacity |
Main Cabin capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Boeing 777-300ER |
8 |
52 |
28 |
28 |
188 |
|
Boeing 777-200ER |
- |
37 |
24 |
66 |
146 |
While the dimensions of the airline's Flagship business class product will see a small reduction in seat width with the change from the -200ER to the -300ER (21.9 inches to 20.5 inches), the overall capacity on the route will grow, with more seats across all cabins.
The aircraft deployed for the first 777-300ER flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) arrived as an inbound service from LHR at 13:14 this afternoon (as AA735), arriving in the UK directly as AA20 from Dallas/Fort Worth.
Holding registration N720AN (serial number 33522), the 777 first joined American Airlines 11 years ago, in January 2013.
AA730 was scheduled to depart from Charlotte this evening at 18:10. However, an updated schedule from Flightradar24 identifies that the push-back is expected to be slightly delayed, now scheduled for 18:47.
The journey is expected to take just short of nine hours, and with scheduled arrival time into the British capital for 07:00 tomorrow morning.
American Airlines maintains a daily service between Charlotte and London, so the larger aircraft, N720AN, will return to Charlotte tomorrow, departing from London at 10:05 and arriving at 14:10. It is expected to maintain the same rotation for the next two days.
According to the airline's website, the Boeing 777-300ER will offer a smaller seat width for Main Cabin (economy) class passengers onboard. While Main Cabin Extra passengers won't recognize much of a difference (17.1 - 18.1" of seat width), Main Cabin passengers will see their seats shrink from 17.1" - 18.1" to 16.2" - 17.1" in width even though both variants operate with economy in a 3-4-3 configuration. Both aircraft have seatback entertainment, in-seat power, and onboard WiFi.
American Airlines currently maintains a thrice daily service between Charlotte and London. However, only AA730 / AA735 have been upgraded to the larger aircraft. The remaining two services will continue with the Boeing 777-200ER.
AA is the sole operator on the route and one of only two airlines operating direct services to Europe from Charlotte (the other being Lufthansa direct to Munich). American Airlines also offers year-round services from CLT to Frankfurt, Madrid, and Munich.
Seasonal flights are also added to Athens (beginning June 5, 2025), Dublin, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Rome Fiumicino during the summer.
