Ryanair cuts back schedule amid Boeing 737 MAX delays

Ryanair confirmed further setbacks in its aircraft delivery schedule on Friday, after Boeing announced a reduced number of 737 MAX-8200 deliveries.

Originally slated to receive 57 aircraft by the end of June, Ryanair said it would now receive only 40, prompting adjustments to its flight operations for the peak summer months of July, August, and September.

The airline - Europe’s largest - had based its current summer 2024 schedule on the anticipation of at least 50 new 737 aircraft.

However, with the reduced deliveries, Ryanair said it needed to scale back about 10 aircraft lines of flying.

The adjustment would primarily affect frequency on existing routes, rather than the introduction of new ones, impacting a fraction of its 600-strong fleet.

Ryanair said it was implementing schedule cuts at higher-cost airports, including Dublin, Milan Malpensa, Warsaw Modlin, and four Portuguese airports where it claimed costs had surged beyond inflation rates in 2024.

Affected passengers had been promptly notified of schedule changes and offered alternative flight times or full refunds, Ryanair said.

The airline also forecast a reduction in traffic for the year to March 2025 to just under 200 million passengers, compared to the initial target of 205 million.

“We are very disappointed at these latest Boeing delivery delays, but we continue to work with Boeing to maximise the number of new 737 aircraft we receive by the end of June, which we can confidently release for sale to customers during the summer 2024 peak,” said group chief executive officer Michael O’Leary.

“We will now work with Boeing to take delayed aircraft deliveries during August and September 2024 to help Boeing reduce their delivery backlog.

“We regret any inconvenience caused to some customers and our airport partners by these enforced summer 2024 schedule changes, which will reduce our full-year traffic growth from 184 million in 2024 to between 198 million to 200 million in 2025.”

O’Leary said Ryanair was working with its airport partners to deliver some growth to them, albeit later in September and October, rather than July and August, adding that the traffic growth could only be delivered at lower fares during the shoulder months.

“Boeing continues to have Ryanair’s wholehearted support as they work through these temporary challenges, and we are confident that their senior management team, led by Dave Calhoun and Brian West, will resolve these production delays and quality control issues in both Wichita and Seattle.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.