Ryanair exercises options to buy 25 Boeing ‘game-changer’ aircraft

Irish airline Ryanair has exercised options to buy 25 Boeing 737 MAX 200 aircraft, in a move which will bring its total firm orders for the aircraft up to 135 and allow it to grow its traffic to 200 million customers a year by 2024.

The aircraft, which Ryanair has christened “Game-changers”, are valued at more than $3 billion (€2.5 billion) at current list prices, and the order means Ryanair has now ordered more than 650 Boeing 737s since first partnering with Boeing in 1994

"The Game-changer has eight more seats than our current 189-seat Boeing 737-800NG and incorporates the latest-technology engines and winglets which will reduce fuel consumption and noise emissions, ensuring we remain Europe's greenest, cleanest airline, while allowing us to continue to lower fares as we grow to 200 million annual customers by 2024," said Neil Sorahan, chief financial officer with Ryanair.

The first of these aircraft will come on stream in the first half of 2019. Ryanair operates an all-Boeing fleet, the youngest in Europe, with an average age of 6½ years.