Ryanair firms options for 75 B737-8-200s

Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) has firmed options for seventy-five B737-8-200s to increase its total commitment to the type to 210 units. The Irish low-cost carrier initially ordered 100 B737-8-200s in 2014, along with 100 options. It ordered an additional ten aircraft in 2017 and converted 25 options into firm orders in 2018. It is one of only two customers for the variant, the other being VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) with a firm order for 28 units of the type. The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that at least 135 of Ryanair’s 210 aircraft, including 129 to be operated by Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l) itself and six by its Polish subsidiary Buzz (RR, Warsaw Modlin), have already been assigned and are awaiting delivery. The -200 is a higher capacity variant of the B737-8, featuring, among other modifications, an additional pair of exit doors. In Ryanair’s configuration, the aircraft will seat up to 197 passengers in a single-class layout. The B737-8-200 has yet to be certified as it was not prior to the March 2019 grounding. The variant’s certification aside, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair Holdings’ Group CEO and Executive Director, said during a 1H FY2021 earnings call last month that the first MAX 8-200 could deliver during early 2021. “We are hoping to take the first delivery of those aircraft at the end of – sometime in February,” he said. “It would allow us to take something of the order of about 30 aircraft between February and early summer. That figure might fall to 25 or so, but it depends on when we can get the first one.” The entire 210-strong order is expected to be fulfilled by December 2024.