Walkaway Leases for the MD80, 767 and A300

"No Way Did We Rape Douglas! You Can't Rape A Willing Soul" - Don Carty, when responding to industry criticism over the deal between McDonnell Douglas and American

In 1982, AA was looking for a new aircraft in the 130-150 seat range, however had
announced that it would not be buying any new aircraft until they had reached new labor agreements with its unions.

Douglas Aircraft was in a bind -- the DC9 production line was closed, the DC10 line was ready to close and sales of the MD80 were dismal at best. In a nutshell, they needed to sell the MD80 to a major carrier.

Although AA had previously considered and decided against the MD80, Douglas and AA came up with with a deal: AA would lease 20 MD80s for five years. At the end of the lease, they could walk away from the aircraft, and on 30 days notice, they could end the lease with a cancellation penalty.

In the two years to follow, AA increased its MD80 fleet from the original 20 aircraft to 33, and in 1984, announced orders for 67 more, bringing the fleet up to 100, plus options on another 100. The last of a total of 260 aircraft were delivered in 1992.

In 1987, a double-deal with Boeing and Airbus was announced on similar terms as the MD80 -- AA could return any number of the aircraft to the manufacturer on short notice.

The Boeing deal was for 15 767-300ER's to be used on their growing European routes, and the Airbus deal was for 25 A300-600R's to be used in the Caribbean. Eventually, 35 A300s and more than 50 767-300s were delivered to AA.