Ryanair order to usher in a new era

Ryanair is to use its next big Boeing order to compete with the likes of Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways on routes from Ireland and Britain to the Gulf States and northern Africa.

The low-fares airline is also talking to Boeing about potential orders to service its longer-term transatlantic plans.

Last September, Ryanair signed a $22bn (€19.3bn) deal to buy 200 new Boeing 737 Max 200 jets, a deal described by the airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary, as being a “game-changing” aspect of its fleet enhancement plans. The first of those jets is due for delivery in 2019.

Updating on Ryanair’s fleet plans yesterday, along with Boeing executive John Wojick, Mr O’Leary said that the larger and more cost-effective planes would lead to lower fares and see Ryanair fly further than it has to date.

The new planes — which can fly for nearly six hours without refuelling — will raise passenger numbers by 4% per flight, lower average fares per passenger by the same percentage, and save the airline nearly 20% in fuel consumption, he said.

Ryanair will eye up aggressive expansion into markets such as Turkey, Russia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Israel.

While, technically, the new planes could allow Ryanair to fly to the east coast of North America, that would be their limit, and Mr O’Leary said this order is not the solution to the airline’s much-touted transatlantic plans.

He said it remains unlikely that Ryanair will make any headway on its transatlantic plans inside the next five years or so, as neither Boeing nor Airbus have any significant availability of long-haul craft and their stocks are all pre-sold up to the early 2020s.

Mr O’Leary also said that it should be possible for Ryanair to offer a service to North America at an average rate per passenger of less than €100; or somewhere between €85 and €95 to be more accurate.

On the new destinations planned for the enlarged fleet later this decade, Mr O’Leary said that Ryanair could carry anything between 10m and 20m people to destinations in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East per year, once established on such routes.

He also said that Ryanair is currently in talks with the Cypriot authorities regarding the gaining of licences from the Mediterranean island to Middle Eastern destinations.

Ryanair had hoped to acquire the now defunct Cyprus Airways — which closed earlier this month — after the European Commission ruled the country’s government bank-rolling of the airline had breached state- aid rules.