The Ryanair Group is one of the world's largest customers for the Boeing 737-Max aircraft. The manufacturer has already been affected by delivery delays in the past for a variety of reasons. Now CEO Michael O'Leary has had to admit that fewer B737-Max-200s will be delivered than the manufacturer originally promised. This has implications for summer 2024.

It was once assumed that around 2024 additional jets of this type would be available in mid-summer 70. Then the number of machines was revised downwards to 2024 by the end of April 57. The carrier has now announced that there could probably be a maximum of 50 copies.

Company boss Michael O'Leary said that the company he leads currently does not know how many ordered B737-Max-200s will be handed over by Boeing. Although he is sure that there will be around 30 to 40 aircraft, he is confident that there could be 40 to 45 aircraft, but the busy manager no longer believes that there could be up to 50 aircraft.

Last year, the Ryanair Group was already confronted with the problem that Boeing delivered significantly fewer B737 Max-200s than originally promised. This meant that there was less capacity available than expected and the group of companies was not able to grow to the desired extent. Although new record numbers were set, Ryanair suspects that these would have been “even better” if they had had more B737-Max-200s available.

This year too, Ryanair has to take action again. It is the first European carrier to admit that due to delivery delays from the manufacturer Boeing, it has to scale back its summer offering or cannot expand to the extent originally planned. Manufacturer Boeing admitted that Ryanair was affected. When contacted, a spokesperson said: “We deeply regret the impact this is having on our valued customer Ryanair. “We are working to address the customer’s concerns and implement a comprehensive plan to improve the quality and delivery performance of the 737.”

It is not yet clear exactly how the cuts will affect Ryanair. In any case, Michael O'Leary assumes that there will be less capacity available on numerous routes and that individual frequencies will therefore be taken out of production. The manager hopes that by the end of March 2024 it will be somewhat clear how many additional B737-Max-200s will be available in midsummer. If there are only 40 or even fewer copies, “minor cuts to the flight plan” will have to be made.