Forth Worth, Texas ? American Airlines is revamping its fleet with a record order for at least 460 new jets, a move it says will save fuel and give passengers a quieter, more comfortable ride.

The airline pulled off the deal by convincing rival aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing to provide generous financing. American said the new planes will make its fleet the youngest among major U.S. airlines within five years.

“This is almost American rebranding itself,” said aviation consultant Darryl Jenkins. “Before, they were old and tired, and now they’re going to be young and energetic.”

The deal was a bold stroke from a management team that has been roundly criticized on Wall Street for lacking new ideas as it lost $4.8 billion and slid from world’s biggest airline to No. 3 in the U.S. in just over three years.

Now the question for American is whether new planes that start showing up in two years will turn the tide — not only by cutting fuel use, but by attracting passengers who have become familiar with its older, noisier planes.

American announced Wednesday that it will order 260 planes from Airbus and 200 from rival Boeing Co., and take options to buy 465 more.

The twin deal is a major coup for Europe’s Airbus, which will break Boeing’s exclusive grip on American’s fleet. Airbus hadn’t won an order from American since the 1980s.

Boeing salvaged one of its biggest sales ever — a huge consolation considering that the Chicago-based company was in danger of losing the whole order to Airbus.

The jets carry a sticker price of more than $38 billion. Big airlines regularly get discounts, and analysts assumed that American pitted Airbus and Boeing against each other to drive down prices.

The buzz around the order was so strong on Wednesday that it nearly drowned out word that American’s parent, AMR Corp., decided to spin off its American Eagle regional airline in a cost-cutting move.

And the hoopla obscured more bad news on the financial front for AMR and American. AMR reported that it lost $286 million in the second quarter, as rising fuel prices wiped out an increase in revenue. The loss was wider than analysts expected.