American Airlines Prepares For More Travelers, Reactivates Fleet

American Airlines is reactivating its fleet as the industry gets ready for more travelers to return to the skies.

That means repairs and other work at the maintenance base at Tulsa International Airport are underway.

American Airlines said its goal is to get all of the planes ready by the end of May. They told News On 6 it's part of their plan to return-to-normal after the pandemic is over.

American Airlines maintenance crew members are getting these planes ready to fly again. The company said they have 38 more aircraft across the country to put back in service.

"We had over 70 parked aircraft at one point at Tulsa base, we're down to the last eight," AA Tulsa Base Maintenance Managing Director Ed Sangricco said.

Sangricco said those included 737 MAX jets, sidelined after two fatal crashes. The company put its last grounded 737 MAX back in service Tuesday.

He said as more Americans get vaccinated for COVID-19, the number of people booking trips is significantly increasing.

"We've been prepping for this for about a year and we've been hopeful, we feel that 2021 is going to be a year of building and of transition," Sangricco said.

Pilots like Larry Toering said it's nice to see things starting to return to normal.

"It's great to see people coming out and starting to fly again, it's great to start to see a light at the end of the tunnel, part of what we are doing is everything focuses on safety and every process that we take," Toering said.

American Airlines did say it will have fewer aircraft as it has retired some of their planes.

"So we'll be somewhat smaller of an airline overall, but we're going to be a lot leaner," Sangricco said.

American Airlines said because of the amount of work to be done; they expect to start hiring again soon.