Ryanair is ordering another 300 new Boeing 737 Max aircraft as it looks to grow annual passenger numbers to 300 million.
The Ireland-based budget carrier, which currently operates around 3,000 flights per day around Europe, has agreed a deal with Boeing for 150 aircraft with options for a further 150.
If all the aircraft are eventually delivered, the deal would be worth $40 billion at today’s list prices – the real value of the deal has not been revealed.
The Boeing 737-Max-10 aircraft, which will be delivered between 2027 and 2023, will be fitted with 228 seats, giving the airline 21 per cent more capacity than its current Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft.
Ryanair wants to increase passenger numbers from last year’s 168 million to 300 million by March 2034, which would be an 80 per cent increase.
Group CEO Michael O’Leary said: “This order, coupled with our remaining Gamechanger deliveries, will create 10,000 new jobs for highly paid aviation professionals over the next decade, and these jobs will be located across all of Europe’s main economies where Ryanair is currently the number one or number two airline.”
O’Leary added that the new aircraft being ordered from Boeing burn 20 per cent less fuel and are 50 per cent quieter than its existing aircraft.