Ryanair to revert to second-hand market if Boeing doesn’t step up, warns O’Leary
Ryanair could revert to buying aircraft from the second-hand leasing market if Boeing were not to step up, according to the airline’s boss Michael O’Leary.
O’Leary told analysts today the airline was willing to remain with Boeing but said the plane manufacturer’s management needed to “bloody well improve,” as they were “running around like headless chickens.”
“Boeing needs a management reboot in Seattle and either the existing management needs to up its game or they need to change the existing management,” Ryanair’s chief executive explained.
“We’re very happy to work with existing management but they need to bloody well improve on what they’ve been doing delivering to us over the last 12 months.”
Commenting on the news, travel expert Rob Staines said: “O’Leary’s frustrations will hit hard at Boeing which is making efforts to reduce its own losses as it emerges from the pandemic and a tough trading environment.
“Operating a sole Boeing fleet, Ryanair is a major customer of the US titan and in true O’Leary style he’s made it clear if issues such as delivery and pricing aren’t improved, he will be marching with his feet.”
At the end of last month the US manufacturer posted a $1.2bn loss, falling short of analysts expectations in both the defence and civil aviation side of the business.
The company was forced to push the delivery of its 777X jets to 2025 because of technical and supply issues.
O’Leary’s comments follow Ryanair announcing this morning it had narrowed its losses from £867m to £302m, hoping to return to profitability in the current financial year.
But the chief executive said it was “impractical, if not impossible” to provide guidance at the moment because of the ongoing impact of Covid and the Ukraine war on holiday bookings, City PM reported.
While bookings had improved in recent weeks because of the summer peak, the 61-year-old executive said, caution was needed when heading into winter.
“[Demand] is too fragile, there remains too many moving parts,” he said.
According to O’Leary, travellers should be prepared to pay more this summer because of the higher demand for short-haul destinations.
“I think capacity, generally, across the summer will be down 10 per cent, 15 per cent,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.
“Prices will be up by, I think, in the first quarter, they’ll be down on pre-Covid up to June, for the September-quarter at the moment, based on about 50 per cent of all bookings, we expect prices will be up high single-digit percent.