As the largest buyer of Boeing 737s in the world this year, Ryanair clearly drove a hard bargain when it came to negotiating with the Seattle-based manufacturer.
The scale of the bargain will probably never be disclosed. That is the way aircraft deals are done - in strict privacy. List prices for the likes of the Boeing 737-800 series bear little relation to what airlines ultimately pay.
The discount on the 140 aircraft cited in yesterday's Ryanair announcement is likely to be significant. Most industry experts believe Michael O'Leary would have received a discount of between 40 and 50 per cent. While airlines of Ryanair's scale can expect a big discount, Boeing had little choice but to accede to Ryanair's tough negotiating tactics.
The Seattle-based company is taking a beating right now from Airbus, its rival. Airbus has delivered more planes than Boeing for two consecutive years. This would be unremarkable except that for decades the situation was the reverse.
Boeing delivered 285 commercial aircraft in 2004, while Airbus delivered 300 aircraft. This year is likely to be even worse for Boeing. Airline publications estimate Airbus will deliver 360 aircraft in 2005, compared to Boeing's 320 deliveries.
So when Ryanair enquired about buying 70 737s and placing an option on another 70, Boeing executives had little choice but to view such a proposal positively.
If Ryanair was expecting delivery of the 70 aircraft this year, it would comprise about one-third of Boeing's whole order book. That simple statistic gives an indication of Ryanair's negotiating power.
As if this wasn't enough commercial pressure to cope with, the Boeing sales team is also coping with declining sales of the 737 itself. While it may be the world's best-selling passenger jetliner over the last 30 years, it has failed in recent years to find favour with low-cost carriers.
Ryanair's rival in Britain and continental Europe, easyJet, signed a symbolic deal with Airbus a few years ago that shocked the aviation industry.
The loss of this business has been followed by other losses - with AirAsia and Air Berlin buying 40 and 70 Airbus planes respectively.
The competition to the 737 has come from the Airbus 320 family. This aircraft in its various guises is proving very popular with European carriers, with Aer Lingus giving their short-haul business to Airbus over two years ago, for instance.
The reason carriers appear to be deserting Boeing is - not surprisingly - price. Airbus is widely recognised to be more competitive on price. Aer Lingus certainly found this to be so when it went to renew its short-haul fleet two years ago.
Boeing executives partly agreed with this analysis, often claiming that Airbus aircraft are being sold at below cost.
Either way, Boeing has sought to become more competitive and various strategies have been employed to cut the cost of manufacture at its Seattle base.
With these events in the background, the importance of the Ryanair business has increased for Boeing.
Michael O'Leary, a regular traveller to Boeing's headquarters, has taken advantage of Boeing's precarious position in the European market.
