Boeing and Ryanair today finalized a firm order for 175 Next-Generation 737-800 aircraft valued at $15.6 billion at list prices enabling Ryanair to grow its fleet to over 400 aircraft by 2019. The order, originally announced as a commitment on 19th March, is Boeing’s largest ever aircraft order from a European airline,and the largest industrial order in the history of the Irish State and was concluded by Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive, Ray Conner, at a ceremony today at the Paris Air Show.
These 175 new Boeing aircraft will create more than 3,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers at Ryanair’s growing number of aircraft bases across Europe and will allow Ryanair to grow by about 5% p.a. over the next five years, taking Ryanair’s traffic to over 100m p.a. passengers by March 2019.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Ray Conner said “We are delighted to finalize this order. It is a testament to the value the Next-Generation 737 family brings to Ryanair,as the most efficient, reliable, large single-aisle airplane flying today, the Next-Generation 737 has been and will continue to be the cornerstone of the Ryanair fleet. I could not be more proud to see the partnership between Ryanair and The Boeing Company extended for the years to come.”
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said “Ryanair is proud to buy Boeing, who make great aircraft, and the 737-800 has been the foundation of Ryanair’s recent successful growth due to its great engineering and phenomenal reliability. These 175 new airplanes will enable us to lower costs and airfares even further. They provide Ryanair with the additional capacity to exploit substantial growth opportunities that now exist as many of Europe’s flag and regional airlines are restructuring and are reducing their short-haul operations.”
Ryanair has taken delivery of a total of 348 Boeing 737-800s since March 1999 under contracts with Boeing in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005, net of disposals a total of 303 are in service operating over 1,600 flights per day from 57 bases on 1,600 routes across 29 countries, connecting more than 180 destinations.
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 18th June All Rights Reserved.
