The Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 jet that landed at Dublin Airport on June 16, was the first of 210 of the MAX 8 variant ordered by the Irish low-cost carrier. Though one of Boeing’s biggest customers, Ryanair has been particularly critical these last few weeks over delays to deliveries and also a clear lack of communication.
Ryanair had anticipated having its first MAX jet in service by March this year, with 24 in service for the summer. Instead, in April, the carrier revised that figure down from 24 to 16, and then down to 14 in May when Ryanair’s chief Executive Ryan O’Leary told analysts “Now we don’t know if we’ll have any.” Ten days prior to that, O’Leary had written to Boeing, requesting an update on deliveries in advance of releasing Ryanair’s results, but nothing was forthcoming. “Despite being Boeing’s largest customer in Europe, we can’t even get them to reply to a letter over a period of ten days,” O’Leary said at the time. “They just need to get their act together in Seattle,” he added.
In addition to 737 MAX 8 orders, Ryanair has also been in discussion with Boeing over an order for the MAX 10 variant. “Most of our focus in our recent discussion with Boeing has been on getting the aircraft delivered and advancing discussions on a Max 10 order,” said Mr O’Leary. “But the delivery and discussion on a Max 10 order have been hijacked by these unexplained and continuing delays in delivering the gamechanger [737 MAX 8] aircraft to us.”
