2023-09-28 14:46:23
Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, announced on Thursday that it will reduce the number of flights during the winter period due to Boeing delays in delivering the ordered planes, reports Archyde.com.
Air travel and airport confusionPhoto: Unai Huizi / imageBROKER / Profimedia
The Irish airline, which is one of Boeing’s biggest customers, said in a press release that it had expected to receive a batch of 27 new planes between September and December, but that delays at the Kansas factory and due to repair operations it has reduced the number of aircraft it will receive to only 14.
Flight cancellations will begin at the end of October and will be communicated to passengers who have already purchased tickets in the coming days, according to the statement.
“At this time we do not expect delivery delays to materially affect our traffic target [pentru 2023] of 183.5 million passengers,” the same source said, without specifying how Ryanair plans to compensate for the canceled flights.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said, however, that “if delays worsen or extend further into January-March 2024, we may have to review this figure and possibly adjust it slightly downwards”.
Ryanair’s share price fell 2.8% on Thursday following the announcement.
Ryanair is reducing the number of planes it has in Belgium, Italy, Germany or Portugal
The airline had already in July revised down its forecast for total passengers for this year from 185 million to 183.5 million, also citing Boeing delays.
O’Leary consistently criticized Boeing last year over the delays, which were already known to affect the 2023 races, but in May reached an agreement to buy 300 new planes from the American company.
Ryanair executives said deliveries had “significantly improved” following Boeing discovered a flaw last month that slowed deliveries of its 737 MAX plane, the company’s best-selling plane.
But Ryanair has now said it will have to reduce the number of its planes at Charleroi airport in Belgium by three, while Dublin will lose two and its Italian fleet five, from airports in Bergamo, Naples and Pisa.
Airports in the UK, Porto and Cologne will also be affected, although no final decision has yet been made on the number of aircraft they will lose.
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