Ryanair has agreed a deal to buy 175 new B737-800 aircraft from Boeing as the airline targets passenger numbers of more than 100 million per year.
The deal which will be worth $15.6 billion at current list prices will enable Ryanair to increase its fleet to more than 400 aircraft by the time the last aircraft is delivered in 2018.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary signed the deal with Boeing in New York today (March 15) and the airline said it was “the largest ever order by a European airline”.
Around 75 of the new aircraft will be replacements for the airline’s existing fleet of 305 B737s but other 100 will be used to increase Ryanair’s annual capacity by around 5 per cent per year – a rate of growth which would increase passenger numbers to more than 100 million by March 2019.
The airline currently carries just under 80 million passengers per year – arch-rival Easyjet currently carries just under 60 million passengers in a year.
O'Leary said: “Ryanair is proud to buy Boeing, who have always made great aircraft and the 737-800 has been the cornerstone of Ryanair's success due to its great engineering and phenomenal reliability.
“These 175 new airplanes will enable us to lower cost and airfares even further, thereby widening Ryanair's cost and price leadership over other airlines in Europe.
“They provide Ryanair with the additional capacity to exploit substantial growth opportunities that currently exist as many of Europe's flag carrier and smaller airlines are restructuring and reducing their short-haul operations.”