Ryanair will be adjusting its Winter 2023 schedule due to delays in Boeing aircraft deliveries, reducing the number of aircraft based in Dublin by 2, Charleroi by 3, and also reduce 5 aircraft across 4 Italian bases including Bergamo, Naples, and Pisa. Additional aircraft reductions will occur in East Midlands, Porto, and Cologne.
Ryanair had initially expected to receive 27 aircraft between September and December but will now only receive 14 due to production and delivery delays. The company is working with Boeing to accelerate deliveries in the January to May 2024 period, aiming to have all 57 new aircraft by the Summer 2024 peak travel season.
Rin a statement, Ryanair expresseD its apologies for these necessary adjustments to the Winter 2023 schedule. Due to scheduled maintenance on its fleet of over 550 aircraft, there are no spare aircraft available this winter. The maintenance is essential to ensure that the entire fleet is serviceable for the upcoming Summer 2024 season, which will be Ryanair’s largest ever.
Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, mentioned that they are actively working with Boeing and their supplier, Spirit, to minimize these delivery delays. It is unfortunate that production problems in Wichita and Seattle have once again caused delays in Boeing’s contracted deliveries to Ryanair this winter. Ryanair’s main objective is to receive all 57 contracted B737 aircraft by the end of May 2024, enabling the fleet to grow to over 600 aircraft for their largest ever summer flight program. Affected passengers will be notified about flight cancellations via email and provided with reaccommodation options or full refunds. Ryanair sincerely apologizes to passengers for any inconvenience caused by these delivery delays this winter.
While it is too early to say if these delays will significantly affect their full-year traffic target of 183.5m passengers, Ryanair may revisit and potentially slightly adjust the figure downward if the delays worsen or extend into the January to March 2024 period.
