The new American Airlines business class product is gorgeous. These are fully enclosed suites, and United Airlines announced they’re even copying the basic seat for their new delivery Boeing 787s.
So far American Airlines offers this only on new Boeing 787-9s. These are designated “787-9P” and are flying from Chicago to London (and Los Angeles) and will grow to serve Philadelphia transatlantics and some transpacific service from Dallas as well.
Unfortunately, the only announced plan to retrofit existing planes with this product is to take their fleet of Boeing 777-300ERs, the only widebodies with Flagship First Class, and end first class in favor of more business and premium economy seats. And that plan – dubbed “Project Olympus” – has been delayed.
American Airlines sent their first Boeing 777-300ER to receive the prototype ‘Project Olympus’ retrofit. It flew to Hong Kong (HAECO) in ealy May. However, by the end of the month aviation watchdog JonNYC reported that it American wouldn’t be able to get the work because of supply chain issues with their seat manufacturer.
Ummmmm, ya know all that stuff I said about how hot I was and all that and the 77W prototype? Well. Looks like my fingers were writing checks that AA's seat-supplier wouldn't cash, or something. Will report back when i figure out what's changed here.
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) May 29, 2025 at 9:14 PM
does appear it will be a while now for the prototype to begin, this is a change
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) May 30, 2025 at 10:50 AM
The plane was now flown back from Hong Kong on Saturday. It landed in San Antonio, without the retrofit.
The interiors on American’s Boeing 777-300ERs are getting pretty long in the tooth, presumably in anticipation of being swapped out. I’ve had broken foot rests, broken seats, and busted inflight entertainment systems this year. American seems to not want to invest, knowing that the seats, screens and everything else will be replaced wholesale soon – unfortunately, though, not soon enough.
Here’s the current business class on the Boeing 777-300ER:
The new business class is going to be much nicer, even giving up a bit of space. I love the backlit entertainment screens, the subtle glow in the dark American Airlines logo at each business class seat, and the (patented) seat belt that lets you sit at the back of the seat while in fully flat mode. We’ll just have to wait a little longer for a second aircraft type to have it.
The refurbishment did not happen because the seat supplier couldn’t get the new seats finished on-time. Supply chain issues & not American’s fault. The nose number is #7LV.
I believe the youngest of twenty 77-3’s ordered.
Well those worried about losing their International F can breather easier.
Was there no communication beforehand between American and their seat supplier? Did American Airlines ferry this 77W to HKG hoping the seats would be delivered to the maintenance facility?
Or did the seat manufacture mislead American Airlines promising to deliver seats they knew they didn’t have due to supply chain issues? If American was misled by the manufacture then their seat manufacture should have to reimburse American for the cost associated with ferrying a 77W to and from HKG.
Got heavy check while there, they will cycle a few more through for same and then at some point, seats will be ready. I think this one was supposed to get viasat work done as well and it’s looking like it didn’t.
Darn, this was the only thing standing between them becoming THE Premium Airline.
PS They need to rip out that IFE
Out of nerd curiosity, why did it land in San Antonio from HKG?
You can have the best seats in the world, but that slop they’ve been serving , masquerading as food for the last 15 years, would make AA my absolute LAST CHOICE for flying!
One wonders if tariffs had anything to do with it. I presume AA has to pay tariffs on the new seats, and any other stuff supplied with the heavy check, or maybe AA was pushing the seat supplier to pay it.
The current J on AA 77Ws isn’t terrible. At least you’re guaranteed a super diamond on those. 772s, you get either super diamond or the rockin coffin and the 787-8 you get the rockin coffin.
@John – more work scheduled at an MRO there I assume
lol, guess what? those seats probably made in China or parts MIC.Special Thanks to the King and wise decision on tariffs and it works So great to the supply chain.
I would love to fly from dfw to Hong Kong direct. Cathay offered this route in late April. We flew business in May and premium seats are highly sought after. Planes are full on my journey. It pulls in a lot of Southeast Asia passengers as far as from India
@George N Romey — Who doesn’t enjoy a good ole ‘international F’… if you know what I mean. Giggity.
@Gary and @John, yes, it is ST Engineering-San Antonio Aerospace. They do a lot of work there. The “new” AF1 was there for a time, I’m not sure if it still is. They used to be Dee Howard back in the day. Did a lot of work for UPS and FedEx, they modified the FedEx DC-10s to a two pilot cockpit, named the MD-10, they also did work on reengining UPS 727s with RR engines, I believe.
I think the 77w j is the best product they have. I haven’t been on the new 789 yet, but the 77w is the last vestige if legacy aa and was done right.
Never flown business because of ridiculous prices… But looking at these pictures, for the money I would expect a little more space and luxury !!
It was flown to HKG for heavy maintenance, they knew the seats were not going to be available before they flew it there,but it still needed to go for the heavy maintenance, all the 777-300 will be rotating through there for heavy maintenance, once the seats are available they will start reconfigure, it might not be until late fall or even early 2026
Did they repair the seats, IFE, etc., at least?
San Antonio hosts a Boeing-owned maintenance facility that AA frequently uses for widebodies.
@Brian – totally agree with you. i have some trepidation with the new flagship suites. they seem cramped and like they don’t have much, if any, storage space. i’ve always appreciated having somewhere to put my personal headphone case and my water bottle at the seat (in addition to the amenity kit) and the way that AA configured the ascent makes it appear that they sacrificed a lot of potential storage space that QR’s newer version of the seats has. also find QR’s version of the seat to be a bit… cramped
Bluesky? Really? Lol. That’s credibility for you.
@AV geek — Far better than whatever a Truth or a Tweet (sorry, X) these days…
I don’t understand why AA is having heavy maintenance done in a Communist country with which the U.S. has strained relations.
@JimC – HAECO does excellent work and by the way united has worked with them for decades too
@JimC – Hong Kong is not part of the CCP. Hong Kong has a capitalist economic system and the CCP does not preside over Bing King. They are an autonomous state.
You forgot to mention that the doors can’t be used because they are still not yet certified for an evacuation, and in addition to that American doesn’t want to add the extra crew member the FAA would require once the doors are certified.