Huge plane order may be split

American Airlines is expected to announce today a massive order for more than 200 single-aisle airplanes, likely split between Airbus and Boeing.

The sales competition pits Boeing’s 737 jets against Airbus’s A320 family. American has long been an exclusively Boeing airline, but according to two aviation industry insiders familiar with developments, Airbus came close to finalizing a deal for the entire order.

To head off that possibility, within the last 10 days Boeing gave American a new proposal that offers the Renton-built 737 jet equipped with next-generation engines.

The offer of a re-engined 737 is a major shift in Boeing’s recent strategic thinking that signals it will delay the option of building an all-new airplane. Last-minute negotiations with American continue in advance of a decisive board meeting of the airline parent company Tuesday evening.

One source with indirect knowledge of the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he thinks the order will be split.

That could mean Boeing replacing part of the carrier’s aging fleet of almost 250 MD-80s with a mix of current and re-engined 737s, while Airbus replaces American’s fleet of more than 120 larger 757s with A321neos.

Winning even that much would be a tremendous win for Airbus.

A second person, with knowledge of the sales talks leading up to the weekend, said Boeing’s late offer could still prove “too little, too late,” with the major part of the order going to Airbus.

“Unless something dramatic changes today, this a done deal for Airbus,” said that person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the Boeing offer lacked detailed data on the cost of the re-engined airplane.

“American’s feeling has been, ‘You guys (Boeing) haven’t got your act together. You’re giving us something on a piece of paper that isn’t anywhere near as far along as Airbus,’ ” he said.