Proactive Investors - Ryanair (LON:0RYA) has confirmed it will receive only 40 deliveries of the Boeing 737 (NYSE:BA) aircraft out of an expected 57 in June 2024.
“This will cause some minor schedule changes in the context of Ryanair’s 600 aircraft fleet and will reduce frequencies on existing routes rather than cutting new routes,” the budget carrier said in a statement.
The reduction in deliveries is another blow to US aerospace group Boeing’s reputation since a dramatic mid-air blowout caused a door to fly off during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said he was “very disappointed at these latest Boeing delivery delays, but we continue to work with Boeing to maximise the number of new B737 aircraft we receive by the end of June”.
O’Leary warned that these delays will force a reduction in flights.
“We regret any inconvenience caused to some customers and our airport partners by these enforced S24 schedule changes, which will reduce our full-year traffic growth from 184m in FY24 to between 198m to 200m in FY25,” he said.
Last month, Ryanair warned that these delays to aircraft deliveries will result in higher airfares.
O’Leary reiterated this warning today: “We expect these latest Boeing delivery delays, which regrettably are beyond Ryanair’s control, combined with the grounding of up to 20% of our Airbus competitors’ A320 fleets in Europe, will lead to more constrained capacity and slightly higher airfares for consumers in Europe in Summer 2024.
“We therefore urge all Ryanair customers to book early in order to secure the lowest available airfares for Summer 2024.”