American
Airlines will rework the first-class cabins of at least 96 single-aisle
aircraft after receiving negative feedback from customers about AA's recent renovation.
AA will add tablet holders, cocktail tables
and USB power ports to seats and increase stowage space under the seat,
said airline spokeswoman Leslie Scott.
"With these new upgrades to the
first-class cabin, we expect our first-class customer survey scores to further
improve," Scott wrote in an email. "Customer survey scores for the main cabin
of the aircraft that have been modified are already higher than those on
non-modified 737s, specifically in the areas of seat, cabin comfort and
storage."
The airline had already modified 71 Boeing 737-800 aircraft and one Airbus A321 as part of its
Project Oasis, in which it added seats and standardized interiors. American began
Project Oasis last year with retrofits of 737-800 aircraft. Along with
larger overhead bins, the
reconfiguration included the addition of 12 seats to each aircraft, a move
accomplished by reducing legroom in first class and economy and by squeezing
lavatory sizes.
The retrofits
have been paused over the summer while American has needed every available
plane to handle high-season operations as well as to overcome the grounding of
its Boeing 737 Max aircraft and a dispute with its maintenance technicians. That
dispute resulted in a surge in the number of aircraft that technicians took out
of commission for service work.
The
reconfiguration will resume next month, Scott said. For now, modifications will be made to original Project Oasis specifications. The
carrier expects to start doing the altered first-class modifications in the spring. Max 8 aircraft also will receive the first-class alteration.
"We are restarting the original
modifications in order to more quickly install items like larger overhead bins
and in-seat power at every seat in more aircraft -- items that our customers
have told us are most important to them," Scott said.