Ryanair confirms Boeing order worth €11.6 billion

Ryanair has confirmed it has ordered 175 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a deal worth $15.6 billion (€11.5 billion).

The low-fare airline said the planes will be delivered over a period up to 2019, expanding the fleet to more than 400 aircraft with a capacity to serve more than 100 million customers across Europe every year.

The deal, originally announced as a commitment in March, is Boeing’s largest ever firm aircraft order from a European airline, and the largest industrial order in the history of the Irish State.

The order was concluded by Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary and Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and chief executive Ray Conner at the Paris Air Show today.

Mr O’Leary said the additional aircraft will create more than 3,000 new jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.

“These 175 new airplanes will enable us to lower costs and airfares even further, thereby widening Ryanair’s price leadership over all other airlines in Europe,” he said.

“They provide Ryanair with the additional capacity to exploit substantial growth opportunities that now exist as many of Europe’s flag and regional airlines are restructuring and are reducing their short-haul operations.”

Mr Conner said he “could not be more proud to see the partnership between Ryanair and the Boeing Company extended for the years to come”.