Ryanair is in talks with Boeing for more new aircraft as passengers numbers are expected to exceed previous forecasts, the company said today.
Ryanair said it expects passenger growth in the year ending March 2005 to be faster than its existing target of 25 per cent year-on-year growth. The airline said it was in talks with Boeing about ordering more aircraft over and above its current order of 100 narrow-body 737s.
"We are talking to Boeing about speeding up orders and in fact taking in more aircraft," Ryanair chief executive Mr Michael O'Leary told a news conference.
Ryanair had previously said it expected its growth to slow in the year ending March 2005.
"We had said that we expected to step back down to 25 per cent," Mr O'Leary told reporters. "We now think its going to be faster than that. It doesn't look like its going to slow down in March '04/March '05."
Earlier this month, Ryanair reported that passenger growth had surged by 64 per cent in December year-on-year.