Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary said that the prolonged grounding of Boeing 737 MAX jets could lead to job cuts and other challenges for budget carriers which are grappling with lost revenue.
Addressing his airline’s 24-percent drop in first-quarter profits, Irish low-cost carrier’s CEO blamed the impact of MAX deliveries’ delays.
Ryanair has 135 of the 737 MAX models on order, the first five of which are due for delivery in the autumn. The airline, however, will not be able to fly MAX jets until regulators have declared them safe.
Ryanair expected 58 of the planes for the summer of 2020, but may not have any of them ready, O’Leary said. “It may well move to 20, it could move to 10, and it could well move to zero if Boeing don’t get their s**t together pretty quickly with the regulator.”
The grounding of the global fleet of 737 MAX aircraft has already taken its toll on Ryanair. The airline was forced to halve its growth targets for next year as it scrapped 30,000 planned flights and warned it could close bases at airports.
Last week another carrier – Southwest Airlines – which operates an all-Boeing 737 fleet, said it plans to take its new MAX planes out of its schedule until early January.
Many airlines across the world have grounded their fleets of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft since mid-March, following crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that killed 346 people.
The US airplane manufacturer said it had been forced to cut future services because of uncertainty over the timing of deliveries of 737 MAX planes.
International ratings agency Moody’s said last week the grounding of Boeing’s MAX aircraft will run longer than expected, which will compound its operational disruption, costs, and the size of the investment in working capital.
