Due to recent Boeing strikes causing delays, Ryanair has revised its fiscal year 2026 traffic growth target from 215m to 210m passengers to avoid being over-scheduled and over-costed amid ongoing delivery challenges.
Ryanair Group took delivery of its 172nd Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 ‘aircraft on October 31, , with an additional 38 aircraft pending delivery from its total order of 210.
The airline has added 35 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft since January 1, 2024, bringing its total fleet to 609 aircraft as of the same date.
Ryanair DAC is the largest operator of MAX aircraft within the group, with 115 aircraft, followed by Malta Air with 43 and Buzz with 14.
Michael O”Leary told the H1 Earnings call: Originally, for FY ’25, we had expected to carry 205m passengers; however, due to the Boeing 737 deliveries, we have had to scale that back to 200m. In fact, I think we will come in just under 200m for the full year. The original target for FY ’26 was 215m passengers, but we will now have to revise that down to about 210m, with the possibility that it may need to be reduced further, potentially to 208m, entirely dependent on how quickly Boeing resolves the strike and provides us with accurate updates on aircraft deliveries.
In terms of fleet and growth, at the end of October, we had 172 Gamechangers in our fleet. We now expect the remaining 9 Q3 deliveries, which were due in September, October, November, and December, to be delayed into Q4. We are hopeful we will receive those in January, February, and March if the Boeing strike settles reasonably quickly. However, there is no doubt that we are now going to miss some deliveries. When we take those nine aircraft in Q4, that leaves us with 29 more aircraft to acquire for summer 2025. We had initially planned to receive those this winter, but we now think it is reasonable to delay about half of those aircraft. Therefore, we expect to receive about 15 of the 29 aircraft before the end of June, in time for summer 2025, while half of them will be delayed into the winter of 2025-2026.
Accordingly, I believe it is sensible for us to begin to adjust our original scheduled traffic. Originally, for FY ’25, we had expected to carry 205m passengers; however, due to the Boeing 737 deliveries, we have had to scale that back to 200m. In fact, I think we will come in just under 200m for the full year. The original target for FY ’26 was 215m passengers, but we will now have to revise that down to about 210m, with the possibility that it may need to be reduced further, potentially to 208m, entirely dependent on how quickly Boeing resolves the strike and provides us with accurate updates on aircraft deliveries.
We are working closely with Boeing. I speak to Stephanie Pope on a weekly basis, and I spoke to her again on Friday. There is voting on the new labour deal today, and I hope to have the results tonight. I must say, I am impressed by the work that has been done on the ground in Seattle. You can lift the phone and talk to someone, which is a change from day one under the previous management. They are working hard to get deliveries; in fact, even during the strike, management was brought in, and we had two aircraft ready for delivery when the strike started.
