I’ve always liked numbers. Numbers and statistics. I was the kid who would count things, just for the sake of counting them (as Halloween and Christmas approached, if we were driving somewhere, I’d count the number of houses I saw that were decorated. As I recall, it drove my father nuts LOL!). I always got As in math subjects in school. And when I got older, I’d pore over surveys, to see what percentage of respondents said this, that and the other thing. So yeah – I was always a numbers person.
So when American Airlines came out with their “By The Numbers” list – various total of the who, what, why, where, when and how of their 2024, you KNOW my numbers- and travel-loving heart was bursting with joy! Here are some of the things they shared (they posted this on December 4th and it looks like they approximated several of the numbers. So although not exact, it’s still impressive):
Flights by the numbers
- They flew over 2.1 million flights. (*cough* I originally wrote that as “fights. Because sky rage, I guess? *cough*)
- Those 2.1 million flights traveled 1.8 billion miles (I did the math so you don’t have to – that’s an average of 857 miles per flight).
- American’s longest flight: Brisbane–Dallas-Fort Worth (8,303 miles), Los Angeles–Sydney (7,488 miles) and Auckland, New Zealand–Dallas-Fort Worth (7,440 miles).
While on those flights
- More than 275 million butts were in the seats of those 2.1 million flights.
- American catered an average of nearly 6,000 carts per day.
- And they order nearly 124 million packs of Biscoff cookies (mmmmm!) per year.
- They also gave out nearly 3 million amenity kits on their long-haul and international flights.
Meanwhile, in their lounges…
- American says they have almost 50 lounges (assuming they mean every lounge they have a hand in, that’d be 32 Admiral Club, 4 Flagship Lounges, 3 Joint Premium Lounges [they partner with British Airways] and 1 Arrivals Lounge [also in conjunction with British Airways]. That adds up to 40. Why can’t they just say 40? I guess “almost 50” sounds more impressive).
- They served over 594,000 espressos in those “nearly 50” lounges.
- Admiral Club and Flagship Lounges combined served over 402,000 complimentary glasses of sparkling wine (to guests 21+, of course).
General interest statistics
- Top destinations for couples: Cancun, San Juan and Las Vegas
- Top destinations for families: Cancun, Orlando, London
- Top domestic destinations for people redeeming their miles: Orlando, Boston, Austin
- Top international destinations for people redeeming their miles: London, Cancun, San Jose del Cabo
- Destinations that tend to be booked the furthest in advance: Athens, Rome and Naples
Other fun facts
These aren’t from AA’s wrap up as much as from other sources on the ‘net:
- American Airlines was formed on April 15, 1926 – they will celebrate their 99th birthday this year.
- They are the largest airline in the world. This was achieved when they merged with US Air in 2013.
- They were the first airline to hire a female pilot in the world – Bonnie Tiburzi, in 1973. She was 24 years old when she was hired and stayed with the company for 26 years.
- Other firsts: the introduced the first frequent flyer program (1981), they were the first airline to offer electronic ticketing, and they launched the first transcontinental jet service (in 1959).
- American owns 994 planes (481 Airbus narrowbodies and 493 Boeing. They also have 20 MD-83s that are inactive at this time) and currently has orders for nearly 330 more (a mix of both Airbus and Boeing)
- They fly to/from over 350 destinations.
What did we miss?
There are probably some of you out there who know many more “fun facts” about American Airlines…what did we miss?
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