Boeing’s Max 8-200 delivery delays angers Ryanair

Ryanair group CEO Michael O’Leary expressed his concern that there remains a “real risk” that the European LCC might not acquire its initial batch of Boeing Max 8-200s before the peak of the summer season. O’Leary blamed Boeing’s continuous mismanagement of the delivery process. “Over the medium term, I expect those delivery problems to be resolved and I am confident that we will take at least 60 of those aircraft in advance of summer 2022. But in the short term there is nothing but a problem,” O’Leary said on the 17 May in a prerecorded presentation following the release of the company’s results for the financial year ended March 31. “And the problem does not lay with the FAA or EASA but with Boeing.”

The airline had until now had remained supportive of Boeing throughout the MAX’s grounding following two deadly crashes in 2019, but O’Leary now acknowledged he’s currently “quite upset” with the OEM.

The FAA certified the high-density Boeing 737 Max 8-200 on 31 March and the EU Aviation Safety Agency validated the variant on 6 April. “We are now eight weeks later and we are still waiting for the first delivery,” said O’Leary. “We are now being told by [Boeing] that the first delivery will be in late May. I am not sure we necessarily believe that.”

The LCC had hoped to take delivery of 14 of the “game-changer” aircraft in advance of the upcoming peak summer season, “but as the management team in Seattle continues to mismanage that process, I think there is a real risk we might not see any of these aircraft in advance of summer 2021,” he stated.