Ryanair is one of Boeing’s biggest customers and the low-cost airline almost exclusively uses the American manufacturer’s aircraft. So when Boeing coughs, Ryanair gets sick.
Boeing’s delivery delays are causing Ryanair to lose millions of passengers, the Irish airline’s boss Michael O’Leary said on Tuesday.
“Delays in Boeing deliveries are jeopardising Ryanair’s growth,” he said during a press conference in London, indicating that the company expects to transport five million fewer passengers for the year than the 205 million initially forecast.
Revenue cut of 500 million euros
The company currently has 350 Boeing 737s on order, but the manufacturer has recently experienced setbacks and delays in aircraft deliveries.
“We were supposed to get seven in July. We got five. We were supposed to get ten in August. We’ll be lucky to get five,” Michael O’Leary said.
The businessman estimates that carrying five million fewer passengers this summer could mean a reduction in turnover of around 500 million euros. “Boeing is certainly paying us a modest compensation, but I would have preferred” to receive the planes, he said.
The low-cost airline was also hampered in its staggered first quarter, which ended at the end of June, by a 15% drop in its average fare over the year: it had to, like some competitors, run promotions to fill its planes, due to lack of sufficient demand.
Source: BFM TV
