Ryanair has signed an agreement with the Boeing to buy 175 new Next Generation 737-800 airplanes.
When finalised, the deal may be worth nearly $15.6 billion at current list prices, and may allow Ryanair to grow its airline to greater than 400 airplanes, serving greater than 100 million passengers per year across Europe by the tip of the delivery stream in 2018.
The agreement was signed by Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary and Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Ray Conner in Big apple.
Upon approval by Ryanair’s shareholders, the acquisition becomes Boeing’s largest deal up to now in 2013 and can be the biggest ever aircraft order from a eu airline.
It will sustain thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs in Boeing and its supplier companies and could represent the most important ever capital investment by an Irish company in US manufacturing and US jobs.
These Boeing airplanes will create greater than 3,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers at Ryanair’s growing choice of aircraft bases across Europe.
Approximately 75 of those new aircraft will replace a number of Ryanair’s existing fleet of 305 Boeing 737s, however the remainder will drive new growth of Ryanair’s fleet of young, highly efficient airplanes.
These airplanes will allow Ryanair to grow its low-cost airline service by about five per cent every year over the following several years, taking Ryanair’s traffic to over 100 million passengers by March 2019.
As Ryanair continues to plot its future as Europe’s low-cost airline leader, it continues to judge the advantages of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft which enters service in 2017.
Announcing the order, O’Leary, said: “Ryanair is pleased to sign this agreement with Boeing to buy 175 new 737-800 jets, as a way to expand our fleet to over 400 units, creating over 3,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers, while allowing us to grow our low-cost airline service by about five per cent once a year over the subsequent several years and take our traffic to 100 million passengers by March 2019.
“Ryanair is proud to purchase Boeing, who’ve always made great aircraft and the 737-800 was the cornerstone of Ryanair’s success as a result of its great engineering and phenomenal reliability.
“These 175 new airplanes will enable us to lower price and airfares even further, thereby widening Ryanair’s cost and cost leadership over other airlines in Europe.
“They provide Ryanair with the extra capacity to milk substantial growth opportunities that currently exist as a lot of Europe’s flag carrier and smaller airlines are restructuring and reducing their short-haul operations.”
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