Michael O'Leary to meet with Boeing as Max crisis deepens for US planemaker 

Will discuss the certification of Boeing's 737 Max 10 aircraft and ongoing issues with oversight

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said the airline, Boeing's largest European customer, has regular meetings with its plane supplier.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said he will meet with senior Boeing executives in Dublin to discuss prolonged delays in plane deliveries as a crisis at the US plane maker deepens.

Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of an aviation conference, he said he will also discuss the certification of Boeing's 737 Max 10 aircraft and ongoing issues with oversight following the January mid-air loss of a panel on a new Alaska Airlines Max 9 in the US.

The meeting will be with the "highest levels of management" at Boeing, he said, without identifying who. 

"We are working closely with Boeing," he said, adding that although Boeing are still producing great aircraft that "there's no doubt in our mind that on the shop floor, the systems and the quality control in Seattle need to be improved", referring to Boeing's main manufacturing hub in Washington. 

He said the airline, Boeing's largest European customer, has regular meetings with its plane supplier and believes things will start to improve as regulators ramp up scrutiny of the company.

He said that Boeing was being heavily regulated at the moment by Congress, and that the US Federal Aviation Authority "are crawling all over them". 

"That doesn't help monthly production. But frankly, it's that kind of oversight it needs," he said. 

Last month, Mr O'Leary warned the carrier may have to cut its summer schedule, the busiest time of the year, due to delays in receiving new aircraft. 

Boeing declined to comment on the meeting.

US regulators have limited Boeing's 737 production to 38 a month.

Meanwhile, the Max safety crisis is causing Boeing to burn more cash than expected, its finance chief said, meaning the US planemaker will need more time to hit a key financial target for coming years. 

The company is trying to get control of safety issues following the January bloout incident that  has placed it under the watchful eye of US regulators — and frustrated airlines already struggling with delivery delays from both Boeing and its rival Airbus.

Chief fiancial officer Brian West told a Bank of America conference that Boeing's cash burn in the first quarter will be somewhere between $4bn (€3.7bn) and $4.5bn, higher than they planned back in January. 

The order backlogs are frustrating airline executives, who have started to cut routes and are trying to acquire additional aircraft to meet demand.

US regulators have limited Boeing's 737 production to 38 a month — but Mr West said Boeing is producing fewer than that allowable amount, though did not elaborate. 

"We're deliberately going to slow to get this right," Mr West told the conference. 

"We are the ones who made the decision to constrain rates on the 737 programme... and we'll feel the impact of that over the next several months."

Mr West said lower deliveries, lower production volumes at its commercial division, and pressure on working capital is affecting free cash flow. 

It means Boeing will need more time to hit a goal outlined in 2022 for annual cash flow of about $10bn by 2025 or 2026. 

"It's going to take us longer to get there than we planned," Mr West said, projecting that goal will be hit further out in the 2025 to 2026 window.

"But we believe that the actions that we're taking right now better position us for that long term." 

• Reuters