Love it or loathe it, Ryanair has certainly scaled the heights of success

THE significance and importance of Ryanair ordering the purchase of 175 aircraft from Boeing seems to have flown over the heads of many people in Ireland.

US President Barrack Obama got it. While he may have used it, during his press conference with Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the White House on Tuesday, to highlight alleged Irish economic recovery — and it is not actually a great example of that — the deal was actually of more importance to the American aircraft manufacturer.

It may be a world famous name, its aircraft used throughout the world, but it faces enormous competition from the likes of Airbus in Europe and new Chinese imitators. It has had battery problems with its new and crucial 787 passenger jet. The company has admitted that the Ryanair deal fills up Boeing’s 737 production “pretty significantly” until production of the new 737 MAX starts in the next few years, with first delivery projected for 2017. In other words, it needed guaranteed business.