Last checked at 
* CEO expects coronavirus crisis to lift before summer
* Sees 'meaningful impact' to Q1 earnings
* Says risk of further delays to Boeing MAX jets
(Updates with details on hit to bookings; risk it may not
receive all 50 737 MAX jets by summer 2021)
By Tim Hepher and Laurence Frost
BRUSSELS, March 3 (Reuters) - Ryanair expects April and May
bookings to fall 10% due to the coronavirus outbreak, dealing a
"meaningful impact" to quarterly earnings, but its Chief
Executive Michael O'Leary said on Tuesday the situation will
stabilise by early summer.
The Irish airline, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, said
on Monday it would cut 25% of its Italian capacity for three
weeks but it was far too early to speculate about earnings from
the next financial year, which begins April 1.
Asked about the prospects for earnings in the three months
to June 30, the first quarter of Ryanair's financial year,
O'Leary on Tuesday said "there will be a meaningful impact."
"At the moment we're expecting a 10% decline in bookings
through the months of April and maybe May. We could be down
about 2 million passengers over that period," O'Leary told
Reuters on the sidelines of an annual industry conference.
"But that I think would be about the extent of it," he
added, saying that once temperatures begin to rise in Europe in
May and June "the hysteria about the spread of the COVID virus
will have calmed down again."
Ryanair has followed rivals like British Airways,
easyJet and Wizz in warning about cancellations
and reduced profits due to the outbreak, which emerged in China
in late December and has spread to more than 50 countries.
O'Leary said his airline has not yet responded with cheaper
pricing but it would stimulate the market if necessary closer to
the summer.
He hinted that the crisis would have some upsides for
Ryanair, reducing pressure from the delayed delivery of Boeing
737 MAX jets, grounded due to two fatal crashes, and
possibly putting weaker rivals out of business.
He said he expects to receive the first 20 of the MAX jets
in September and October and was "pretty confident" it would get
50 in time for summer 2021, but added there was a risk it would
be fewer.
"There’s always a risk that when they restart the production
line it won’t be as efficient as it was prior to the grounding
and we might run into risk that we’re only able to take less
than 50 aircraft, 40 aircraft for summer of 2021," he said. "But
at the moment it looks good.”
Airbus, O'Leary said, had contacted Ryanair last
week offering it pre-2025 production slots that had not
previously been available. O'Leary said the answer was: "Yes we
would, as long as the price is right."
While Ryanair has historically operated a Boeing 737-only
fleet, its Austrian subsidiary Laudamotion operates two dozen
Airbus A320s.
"We have said despite COVID and all the other extraneous
factors out there, if the price is right we will order a new
Airbus aircraft and we’ll order a new Boeing aircraft, today,
tomorrow, next week," he said.
(Additional reporting by Sarah Young; Writing by Conor
Humphries; editing by David Evans and Alexander Smith)
