Next year will see American Airlines celebrate its centenary, with April 2026 marking 100 years since its first flight. Since then, the carrier has continued to grow through a series of mergers and overcome various crises to become one of the world’s largest airlines. With this in mind, it has big plans in store.
With the new year now being just 100 days away, American Airlines has taken the time to reveal the first steps of its celebrations, which include a special centennial logo to mark the occasion. It has also devised a promotional video that merges both the past and the present, as one of the largest and oldest airlines in the United States of America prepares to celebrate what is set to be a very special anniversary.
A Special Logo To Mark The Occasion
As pictured above, American Airlines’ new centennial logo seamlessly blends its existing logo into the number 100, with the tail design cleverly linking the two zeros in a manner that causes them to resemble an infinity sign. This, American Airlines says, “effortlessly [blends] strength, timelessness, and legacy.”
According to a corresponding statement released earlier today by American Airlines, the Fort Worth-headquartered oneworld founding member plans to feature its new centennial logo “across merchandise, digital channels, in-flight, sports properties, and more.” Robert Isom, who has served as the Chief Executive Officer of American Airlines since 2022 (having previously been its President), explained that:
“American is proud to be an airline known for its legacy of firsts. As we get ready for our centennial, we celebrate the strong history of our iconic airline and brand while knowing we’ve built an airline that will continue to move our customers and company forward for the next 100 years.”
Blending The Past & Present
Away from its centennial logo initiative, American Airlines has also devised an anthem video to commemorate its 100th anniversary, which will fall on April 15 of next year. This clip, it explains, serves the purpose of “highlighting historic and present-day images of its fleet, global network and team members.”
As the US legacy carrier explains, its story began when a small operator flew the first piece of mail from St Louis to Chicago, and that, while “no one knows exactly how the first conversation went, (…) it probably started with ‘What if…?'” Since then, American Airlines, and the carriers that preceded it, have been charting a near-constant path of growth and expansion, resulting in many innovations along the way.
Indeed, among its most significant early ‘what if’ conversations would have involved the concept of carrying passengers along with mail, resulting in the deployment of the legendary Douglas DC-3 from New York to Chicago. The video, which can be seen above, also marks American’s various firsts, such as its creation of the first airport lounge and loyalty program. You can read more about the former below!
What Does American Airlines Look Like Today?
The world has come a long way in the last 100 years, and American Airlines is no exception to this speedy and staggering growth. According to present fleet data made available by ch-aviation, what started as a single aircraft with a single piece of mail is now a mainline fleet consisting of 1,001 aircraft.
This diverse portfolio of commercial planes features narrowbody twinjets from both Airbus and Boeing, with the latter manufacturer having a monopoly on American Airlines’ widebody fleet. Going forward, data from ch-aviation shows that the carrier, which serves 362 destinations in 63 different countries, has another 302 aircraft on order, the bulk of which are Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies.