It has long been speculated that Ryanair is toying with a bulk order for the Boeing 737 Max 10. So far, no agreement has been reached with the US manufacturer on the price. These planes would not be needed “before 2026 or 2027” anyway, said CEO Michael O'Leary to the Sam Chui portal.

The manager is currently assuming that around 2025 Boeing 210 Max 737s will have been taken over by spring 200. Negotiations on the purchase of Max 10, which were interrupted last year, have not yet been resumed. Nonetheless, O'Leary believes that 220-seat aircraft will be "the next logical development in Ryanair's strategy".

At the subsidiary Lauda Europe, many leasing contracts will expire at the end of 2022. The Group CEO emphasized to Aviation.Direct that the predominant extended the majority of the contracts or is talking about it with the Lessors. He does not want to rule out that the fleet will be modernized with an Airbus A320neo, but his very personal tendency is towards a Boeing 737 Max. O'Leary favors a group-wide uniform Boeing fleet, but the die has not yet been cast. For the Laude Europe staff, in the event of a change of fleet to Boeing, only the model would change, but a merger with Malta Air is expressly not to be considered.

Michael O'Leary reiterated to Sam Chui that the Ryanair Group remains very interested in the Airbus A320neo. At the same time he added: "I don't know if the A320neo will ever be the right thing for us". The order books at the European manufacturer are full, but it could well be that one or the other Lessor aircraft, which were originally intended for Russian lessors, could be offered by Ryanair or its Maltese subsidiary Lauda Europe. There are currently no direct negotiations with Airbus, so that a detour via the lessor is an option. However, Michael O'Leary is considered a big fan of the Boeing 737 and makes no secret of the fact that he would rather see Lauda Europe fly with the B737 Max. However, he does not want to completely close his eyes to Airbus, because Boeing is currently not at all willing to conclude new orders from the Irish major customer at dumping prices.

The Ryanair Group currently maintains around 200 bases across the route network. According to O'Leary, 20 to 30 more will be added within the next five years. The number of passengers transported per year is to be increased to 225 million passengers. Discussions are currently being held with the Oslo Gardermoen and Midtjyllands (Karup) airports about the possible construction of new bases.