Dallas — American Airlines, struggling to make money despite high fuel prices and fierce competition, is delaying the delivery of 54 jetliners from Boeing Co. in a move that underscores the split between aging carriers and low-cost rivals such as Southwest and JetBlue.
American, the nation's biggest airline, had agreed to take the planes between 2006 and 2010, but it said Monday it would defer delivery to delay $2.7 billion in spending through 2010 -- more than half of it in the next three years.
Chief financial officer James Beer, who disclosed earlier this month that American was negotiating with Boeing about possible delays, said it would improve the airline's ability to restructure its finances. American is a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp.
Boeing said it already had factored the delayed orders into its financial guidance. Boeing has said it expected to deliver 285 planes this year and 320 next year.
"Frankly, the deferrals are not surprising given the current economic health of U.S. legacy carriers," said Nicolaas Groeneveld-Meijer, a Boeing spokesman.
Robert E. Toomey, an analyst who follows Boeing for RBC Dain Rauscher, said Boeing might be able to sell some of the planes earmarked for American to low-cost carriers.
He added that the setback could be tempered if Boeing could increase sales to carriers in Europe and Asia and by introducing its new 7E7 jetliner.
Ray Neidl, an analyst for Calyon Securities, said AMR was trying to conserve resources while it regains its footing in the troubled airline industry.
Shares of AMR fell 14 cents to close at $8.76, while Boeing shares gained 20 cents to $53.97 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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