Ryanair will fly 5 million fewer passengers than planned next year owing to delayed deliveries of Boeing’s grounded 737 Max aircraft, and warned that jobs would be affected and airport bases closed as a result.
Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier was expecting to bring the first five of 135 planes on order into service this year, and 58 by next summer. On Tuesday it said that on a “prudent” estimate it would have about half that number but there were no guarantees.
Ryanair now expects to carry 157 million passengers in the year to March 2021, cutting its summer 2020 growth rate to 3% from 7%. The lower than expected passenger numbers suggest the airline will cut about 30,000 flights from its plans for next year.
The 737 Max remains grounded worldwide after two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. Boeing has yet to convince regulators that its modifications are sufficient to ensure the plane’s safety.
TimelineBoeing’s 737 Max crisis
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The first Boeing 737 Max begins commercial operations with Malindo Air. Norwegian Air is also an early adopter of the new model, operating transatlantic flights. The model promises fuel efficiencies attractive to carriers.
Lion Air flight JT610 crashes after making a sudden, sharp dive into the Java Sea 13 minutes after departing from Jakarta, Indonesia. All 189 people onboard are killed. That particular plane had been in use for less than three months. The plane's black box recorder reveals that the Lion Air plane had experienced problems with its airspeed indicators on its last four flights.
Boeing issues revised instructions on how pilots should react to erroneous readings from “angle of attack” sensors, believed to be a key factor in the Lion Air crash.
Flight ET302 crashes about six minutes after taking off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people onboard. The captain had reported difficulties, and flight radar data shows the aircraft was climbing erratically with an unstable vertical airspeed.
The EU, Canada and the US all ground the Boeing 737 Max. Boeing itself issues a statement saying it “continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 Max”, but that “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public” it w recommending the grounding of the entire global fleet of 371 aircraft.
The interim report into the Ethiopian Airlines crash finds that the pilots correctly followed Boeing’s emergency instructions, but were still unable to stop the plane’s nose repeatedly pointing down. The jet hit an airspeed of 500 knots (575mph), well above its operational limits, before cockpit data recordings stopped.
Airlines extend their ban on using the Boeing 737 Max after the US aviation regulator said it had identified a new potential risk with the plane.
In the wake of Boeing’s troubles, Airbus seems set to overtake it as the world's biggest planemaker. As Boeing reported 239 commercial plane deliveries in the first half of the year, a 37% fall, rival Airbus shipped 389 deliveries, up 28% on the same period last year.
Pictures emerge of a Boeing 737 Max due to be delivered to Ryanair with the name 737 Max replaced by 737-8200 on the nose.
During congressional hearings into Boeing’s handling of the crisis, lawmakers were shown internal records revealing that three years before the crashes an employee had expressed concern that an anti-stall flight system could be triggered by a single sensor.
The crisis deepens with the release of hundreds of internal messages between employees working on the 737 Max aircraft, which boasted of deceiving safety regulators and said the plane had been “designed by clowns”.
Boeing orders inspections of its entire fleet of grounded 737 Max planes after it found foreign object debris in the fuel tanks of some of the mothballed planes.
The Ryanair chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “Ryanair remains committed to the 737 Max aircraft, and now expects that it will return to flying service before the end of 2019.”
The airline has ordered a larger, 197-seat version called Max 200, a variant that it expects to be separately certified as safe a month or two after the 737 Max 8 fleet returns to the sky. It hopes to receive its first aircraft in January or February 2020.
O’Leary said the shortfall in deliveries would mean some base closures over the winter, potentially including routes where flights have already been sold, as well as cuts next summer. He said: “That will have ramifications for pilots and cabin crew, and we will have to enter into intensive negotiations with our people and unions.”
It emerged this week that a 737 Max aircraft due to be delivered to Ryanair had the name Max dropped from the livery, fuelling speculation the manufacturer and airlines will seek to rebrand the troubled plane once it is given the all clear to fly again. Neither Boeing nor Ryanair have taken responsibility for the change.
Ryanair shares rose by 2%. Shares in rival carriers EasyJet and IAG also rose, possibly on hopes that fewer planes in the skies will enable airlines to raise fares again.