American Airlines said today that it will move up three scheduled deliveries of the single-aisle, medium range 737-800 from 2016 to 2009.

American says that it will bring forward the delivery of 47 of the planes to 2009-2012 from 2013-2016.

The topic of American’s delayed decision on a Maddog fleet replacement was a hot topic of conversation this year at the annual ISTAT Conference, as I reported in PlaneBusiness Banter, with no less than Steve Hazy, CEO of uber-airline leasing firm ILFC making the comment, “The day of reckoning will come.”

Then again, as was pointed out by others, the airline has not been in a position to even purchase more aircraft for the last several years.

American is the largest operator of MD-80s. It currently owns 138 and leases 187 more of the aircraft, nearly half of the airline’s fleet.

The 737-800 carries roughly the same number of passengers as the MD-80, but will use 25% less fuel per available seat mile, according to the statement issued today by American.

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