Ryanair has cut flights from its summer 2024 schedule after confirming on Friday (1 March) that it now expects to receive just 40 of the 57 planned Boeing 737-MAX8200 aircraft that were due to be delivered before the end of June 2024.
The low-cost carrier, which previously warned of price hikes due to a slowdown in aircraft deliveries, said it will now reduce flight frequencies on approximately 10 routes during the summer peak (July to September).
Ryanair said it will reduce frequencies on existing routes rather than cut new routes from the current schedule, which, according to the carrier, was formulated on the basis of receiving ‘a minimum’ of 50 Boeing 737 aircraft.
In a statement the carrier said it has already implemented schedule cuts at some of its higher-cost airports, such as Dublin, Milan Malpensa, Warsaw Modlin and four Portuguese airports “where costs are rising faster than inflation in 2024”.
Ryanair group CEO Michael O’Leary said: “We are very disappointed at these latest Boeing delivery delays, but we continue to work with Boeing to maximise the number of new B737 aircraft we receive by the end of June… We will now work with Boeing to take delayed aircraft deliveries during August and September 2024 to help Boeing reduce their delivery backlog.”
The deliveries of new Boeing aircraft have been delayed following the blowout of part of the fuselage on an Alaska Airlines’ Max-9 in January. Following this incident, US regulators have been examining Boeing’s quality control procedures.
As a result of the summer 2024 schedule changes, Ryanair’s annual passenger forecast is expected to drop to just under 200 million, compared with a previous goal of 205 million for the full fiscal year ending March 2025.
O’Leary, on Friday, reiterated previous concerns regarding an increase in fares as a result of aircraft shortages, particularly since airlines such as Wizz Air and Lufthansa have been forced to ground some of their A320 aircraft to allow engine inspections to deal with a “manufacturing issue”.
“We expect these latest Boeing delivery delays, which regrettably are beyond Ryanair’s control, combined with the grounding of up to 20 per cent of our Airbus competitors’ A320 fleets in Europe, will lead to more constrained capacity and slightly higher air fares for consumers in Europe in summer 2024,” he said.