American Airlines is ditching cheeseburgers from its onboard menu earlier than planned, due to running out of meat patties.

The airline is instead offering 'hot vegetarian entree pasta with tomato ragu' as a replacement.

"In addition, the hamburger toppings, condiments and chips are replaced with a side salad, salad dressing, Peruvian sweet peppers as a garnish and a broccoli salad appetiser," the airline said in an alleged email to staff, leaked to View from the Wing.

The shortage hit American Airlines due to its miscalculation about how many meat patties it needed to order, based on the predicted monthly demand.

Passengers who pre-ordered burgers using the airline's website will be left without any meal at all, due to the limited amount of vegetarian meals available.

American Airlines will be releasing its entirely new menu - which doesn't include burgers - in mid-November.

Newshub