American Airlines’ PIT Maintenance Base Lands A321neo
Pittsburgh mechanics will perform initial checks on carrier’s newest planes
By Bob Kerlik
Published February 2, 2019
Read Time: 2 mins
American Airlines’ maintenance base workers at Pittsburgh International Airport grinned and snapped photos Friday as the facility received the first of a new order of 100 Airbus planes – good news for the base that employs 500 people.
The airline designated its Pittsburgh maintenance base as the facility that will perform acceptance checks on fresh-from-the-factory arrivals of A321neos, which are new to American’s fleet. Seventeen are scheduled to arrive in Pittsburgh this year, with the rest of the order to come in future years.
“When American performs acceptance checks after taking delivery of a brand new aircraft, they go to one of our four heavy maintenance base locations. Tech Ops – PIT base was chosen due to their history, familiarity and great maintenance work on the Airbus A320F aircraft,” said American spokeswoman Linda Brock. “The A321neo is a variant of that fleet family, so it’s very similar to what they usually work on.”
The plane landed at a snowy Pittsburgh International on Friday after a nine-hour ferry flight from Hamburg, Germany. The new aircraft will spend approximately two weeks at the base undergoing general operations checks as well as installation of WiFi, computer checks and other customization modifications, Brock said.
American’s Neo has 196 seats, includin