Ryanair has blamed the ongoing Boeing 737 MAX worldwide grounding for many of its problems, including multiple base closures and job cuts. Yet the Irish low cost carrier has not lost its belief in the aircraft type and has since submitted a new MAX purchase offer.
Calling Boeing 737 MAX a “game changer”, Ryanair has high hopes for the type, believing that it would transform its cost base and business for the next decade. 737 MAX-200 would have 4% more seats and burn 16% less fuel than Boeing 737-800s that Ryanair currently operate.
Once the aircraft finally arrives, that is. Amid the ongoing Boeing 737 MAX worldwide grounding, the company now expects the first of its brand new MAX-200s to arrive no earlier than September or October 2020, meaning they would miss the high season, as outlined in a statement by Ryanair on February 3, 2020.
In addition, Boeing’s recommendation of additional simulator training for all 737 MAX pilots before the aircraft returns to service (as revealed in January 2020) would also pose another obstacle for the Irish low cost carrier, by slowing down the delivery of backlogged aircraft and new deliveries.
Pointing to the 737 MAX delivery delays as the main reason behind closure of a “number” of its winter bases (and resulting staff layoffs in Spain, Germany and Sweden), Ryanair is now also postponing a 200 million passenger target by “at least” one or two years to FY25 or FY26.
Yet despite all its shortcomings, the Irish carrier still believes it the type. Even more so, Ryanair made a new offer for 737 MAX 10 jets, on top of its current order of 210 Boeing 737 MAX-200, the company’s Chief Executive Michael O’Leary revealed on February 3, 2020, as reported by Reuters. The deal is unlikely to be finalized until MAX returns to service, according to O’Leary.