American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) says it is continuing to evaluate its options after confirming that the A330-900 was no longer a contender for its widebody fleeting plan.

According to Bloomberg, Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) said it was unwilling to match the prices being offered by Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for its B787-9 product.

American Airlines has been looking at a potential substitute for an unwanted order for twenty-two A350-900s (née A350-800s), inherited from predecessor US Airways (Phoenix Sky Harbor), which were set to replace its older A330ceo. The carrier has deferred deliveries for the order several times; from spring 2017 to late 2018, and then more recently, to late 2020.

In January this year, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr said the key mitigating factor in the A350 order decision was the cost of adding a new type's complexity to the fleet for such a relatively small number of aircraft.

In contrast, American already operates the B787 Family with twenty B787-8s and fifteen B787-9s currently in service. It expects to have forty in place by year-end 2018, and forty-two by late 2019. It also holds options for another 52 B787s.