* Boeing shares up 6%
* Largest MAX order since 2018
* Ryanair now has 210 MAX orders
* Jets discounted due to MAX delays
(Adds share price, details from press conference, future Boeing
order)
By Eric M. Johnson and Conor Humphries
SEATTLE/DUBLIN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Budget airline Ryanair
on Thursday ordered 75 Boeing 737 MAX jets with a
list price of $9 billion, throwing a commercial lifeline to the
embattled U.S. planemaker after regulators lifted a 20-month
safety ban.
The order from the Irish airline, Europe's biggest low-cost
carrier and one of Boeing's most important customers, is the
largest for the jet since 2018 before two fatal crashes led to a
20-month global flight ban.
Boeing shares were up 6% on the news, first reported by
Reuters on Wednesday.
"I've always had faith that the order book would begin to
fill with the return of the industry," Boeing Chief Executive
David Calhoun said at a signing ceremony in Washington.
As regulators move to clear the aircraft for flight after
revisions to cockpit software and pilot training, Boeing is
hoping for more eye-catching MAX orders, sources have said.
"It's certainly the deal of the new century," Ryanair Chief
Executive Michael O'Leary told Reuters later.
Ryanair did not disclose the price it will pay, but traders
say deals typically include discounts in excess of 50% of list
prices.
Ryanair was expected to win an even bigger discount of well
over two-thirds in return for a headline-grabbing relaunch of
the MAX that helps fill gaps left by cancellations, sources
said.
Part of the discount was compensation for the 18-month delay
to the first delivery of the MAX, O'Leary said.
Asked during the signing ceremony about price concessions
Boeing offered, O'Leary joked: "Not enough ... I am sorry to say
it is a very modest discount."
Even at a fraction of the MAX's list price of $125 million,
the deal could help to stem a haemorrhage in cash caused by a
stockpile of roughly 450 undelivered MAX jets being stored by
Boeing.
Ryanair already has 135 of the 197-seat MAX 200 on order,
and expects to receive its first jet early next year and the
final one by the end of 2024. Ryanair also hopes to agree to
another large order of the 737 MAX over the next 18 months, and
expects to be flying the 230-seat MAX 10 by 2025, O'Leary told
Reuters.
"I think regulators are looking for some further design work
to be done so I think the delivery of the MAX 10 is going to
slip back maybe 12-18 months," he said.
PIVOTAL MOMENT
The order could be a pivotal moment in efforts by Boeing to
rehabilitate the MAX, its fastest-selling model before it was
grounded in March 2019 following crashes in Indonesia and
Ethiopia in which 346 people died.
The jet staged its first post-grounding flight with media on
board on Wednesday, weeks before the first commercial passenger
flight on Dec. 29.
Boeing is also negotiating with airlines including Southwest
and Delta and Alaska Airlines, which last month agreed to lease
13 Boeing MAX jets, industry sources have said.
Ryanair has a record of striking deals to lock in low costs
when its bargaining power is highest, most famously by placing
an order for 100 new 737s at rock-bottom prices in the wake of
the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
That deal laid the foundation for its transformation into
one of Europe's dominant airlines.
Sharp discounts could allow Ryanair to sharpen competition
with other European budget carriers like easyJet and
Wizz Air for the lowest fleet costs, a key driver for
the ability to slash fares.
"No one will be able to compete with us with these
aircraft," O'Leary said.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries in Dublin, Eric M Johnson in
Seattle, Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
easyJet (EZJ)
