Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines is on track with its plans to retrofit 10 Airbus A321neos acquired from Alaska Airlines last year. The legacy airline sent its first aircraft to San Antonio to begin cabin harmonization.
It comes about seven months after American debuted its first ex-Alaska A321neo on revenue service. Since then, the carrier has primarily operated the planes out of its hub at Miami International Airport (MIA).
Aviation watchdog JonNYC reported on Monday that N950XV is undergoing a retrofit into American’s Oasis cabin configuration. FlightAware data shows that the aircraft was ferried from Miami to San Antonio International Airport (SAT) as AA9783 last Tuesday.
Oasis is the name for American’s current cabin interior design. While it features sleek navy blue main cabin seats with red accents, dark gray first class recliner seats, and modern bulkheads, critics have said the interior resembles the cabin of an ultra-low-cost carrier since they lack seatback screens and adequate legroom.
However, since Alaska never equipped its former A321neos with seatback screens, the change to Oasis will not be drastic for passengers.
While the retrofits will harmonize the cabins with the rest of American’s narrowbody fleet, when complete, there will still be subtle differences compared to the airline’s legacy A321neos. Since the ex-Alaska aircraft were among some of the earliest A321neos produced, they are not equipped with Airbus Cabin Flex (ACF) and have a different exit configuration.
My previously reported that the aircraft also have different overhead bins, no closets for stowage of wheelchairs or other items, and a photoluminescent emergency strip. It is unclear if the retrofit will address these differences.
The planes have a total of eight exits – four on each side. American’s legacy A321neos also have eight exits, but two exits are located over the wing.
The over wing exit configuration was developed from ACF and allows for additional seats onboard. As such, the legacy aircraft can accommodate a total of 196 passengers, while the ex-Alaska A321neos are limited to a capacity of 190 passengers.
The good news is that American’s A321ceos accommodate 190 seats, meaning the ex-Alaska aircraft will likely sport the same configuration. While they will not be harmonized with the legacy A321neos, they will be with the A321ceos, which will streamline American’s utilization of the aircraft.
This is not the first time N950XV has been on the ground in San Antonio for an extended period of time. Before officially entering service, the aircraft spent time at the airport as American integrated it and the other ex-Alaska examples into its fleet.
The aircraft performed flight tests in late April and was subsequently ferried to Miami. On May 6th, the plane operated its first revenue flight with American as AA925 from Miami to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS), according to Flightradar24.
N950XV is a 7.6-year-old airframe, as indicated by planespotters.net. The aircraft was delivered to Virgin America in April 2017 with the registration N921VA, but it was repainted to Alaska’s livery about a year later when the two airlines merged.
It flew until September 23, 2023, when it was withdrawn from use. American acquired the aircraft in December of last year, and then later re-registered it to its current registration.
It is unclear how long it may be before the retrofit is complete, but it will likely take a few weeks. Once finished, the other nine aircraft will evidently follow suit.
