Ryanair has announced cuts to its winter schedule due to delays in the delivery of Boeing aircraft, but Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers said its full-year traffic forecast was unaffected “as yet.”
Ryanair (RYAAY), which is one of Boeing’s largest customers, said in a statement Thursday that it had expected to receive delivery of 27 aircraft between September and December.
However, production delays at the Spirit Fuselage facility in Wichita, Kansas, combined with Boeing’s repair and delivery delays in Seattle, meant the budget airline now expects to receive only 14 aircraft between October and December.
Flight cancellations will take effect from the end of October, and will be communicated to all affected passengers by email over the coming days, the airline said.
“At this early date, we do not expect these delivery delays will materially affect our full-year traffic target of 183.5 million [passengers],” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said.
“But if the delays worsen or extend further into the January-to-March 2024 period, we may have to revisit this figure and possibly adjust it slightly downward.”
Ryanair shares were down 2.8% at 5 a.m. ET.
Asked if it could confirm the delays and when deliveries would be up to date, a spokesperson for Boeing said that the planemaker valued its partnership with Ryanair and was committed to supporting the airline.
Ryanair already trimmed its full-year passenger forecast from 185 million in July, citing potential Boeing delays, as well as the impact of air traffic control strikes.
O’Leary consistently blasted Boeing throughout last year for delays that impacted deliveries up to its key 2023 summer season, but buried the hatchet in May with a multibillion-dollar deal for as many as 300 Boeing jets.
Ryanair executives had said deliveries had “significantly improved” before Boeing discovered a production flaw last month that has slowed deliveries of its best-selling 737 MAX aircraft.
The budget airline said the cuts would affect Charleroi airport in Belgium, Dublin in Ireland and Italian airports including Bergamo, Naples and Pisa. There will also be reductions at East Midlands airport in the UK, Porto in Portugal and Cologne, Germany, it said.
It had expected delivery of 57 Boeing aircraft between September 2023 and May 2024 and said it was working to try to accelerate deliveries in the January to May 2024 period so that it can enter the Summer 2024 peak travel season with all aircraft delivered as expected.
