(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC on Friday said it will have to reduce its planned flying schedule during the key summer months this year, due to late deliveries of new airplanes by troubled US manufacturer Boeing Co.
Michael O'Leary, the chief executive officer of the Dublin-based budget airline, said he is "very disappointed" by the delays by Boeing, but said: "Boeing continues to have Ryanair's wholehearted support as they work through these temporary challenges."
US regulators on Wednesday said they have given Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan addressing quality control issues, after a major safety incident in January led to a temporary grounding of some Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
A 737 MAX operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a mid-flight blowout of an air panel on the fuselage on January 5, triggering an emergency landing, and leaving the plane with a gaping hole in the cabin. There were no serious injuries, but safety inspectors said the incident could have been catastrophic.
Ryanair on Friday said it now expects to receive just 40 of the 57 B737-MAX8200 aircraft that were due to be delivered to Ryanair before the end of June. As a result, it will have to reduce its summer 2024 schedule by 10 aircraft lines.
Ryanair said that this will cause "minor schedule changes" within the context of its overall 600 plane fleet, but it now expects to carry just under 200 million passengers in the financial year ending in March 2025, down from its original target of 205 million.
Ryanair has cut its schedules at what it called its higher-cost airports, including in Dublin, Milan, Warsaw, and four in Portugal.
While it will work Boeing to secure the delivery of the delayed aircraft in July, August and September, seats on them will not be able to be sold for those months, which have the highest demand and would therefore command the highest fares.
O'Leary noted that Ryanair's own reduction in flights, combined with the grounding of some Airbus SE A320 aircraft flown in Europe by its competitors, will mean "constrained capacity and slightly higher air fares for consumers in Europe in summer 2024" across the board.
Ryanair shares were up 1.0% at EUR20.07 early Friday. UK competitors easyJet PLC and Wizz Air Holdings PLC were up 1.1% and 1.4%, respectively.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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