Summary
- Ryanair’s Group CEO wants to extend its Airbus A320 fleet to 50 aircraft.
- O’Leary prefers expanding the Airbus fleet over replacing it with Boeing 737s, citing retraining costs.
- The challenge is obtaining Airbus A320 slots as they’re already booked up, making recent aircraft from lessors pricier.
Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary has told Easy Flying that he wants Europe’s largest low-cost carrier to operate more Airbus A320 family aircraft. O’Leary made the comments on the sidelines of today’s Airlines For Europe Summit, hosted in Brussels, Belgium.
Many think that the Ryanair Group only operates the Boeing 737 family of aircraft, and these aircraft do make up over 95% of the airline’s fleet. Nevertheless, subsidiary Lauda does operate a smaller sub-fleet of 27 Airbus A320s. It is that this smaller sub-fleet that O’Leary would love to expand relatively than replace them with Boeing 737s.
Photo: Ilie Silviu Alexandru / Shutterstock.com
More Airbus A320s
Chatting with Easy Flying, O’Leary first explained that the present Lauda Airbus A320 lease agreements are as a consequence of expire in the subsequent 4 to 5 years,
“The plan for the Lauda fleet is we currently have 27 A320s. We would love to extend that number to 50. But in the mean time Airbus is backed up with aircraft deliveries out to 2030. My leases only run as much as 2028/29. So I could be hopeful of either extending those leases, or replacing them with other leased [A320]ceos until I can get a deal done with Airbus for brand spanking new Airbus aircraft a while in the subsequent 5-10 years.”
Photo: Tom Boon | Easy Flying
O’Leary doesn’t just wish to retain the Airbus A320 family fleet but additionally desires to grow it, adding,
“My preferred alternative is to interchange those aircraft with more Airbus aircraft. I would love to have an even bigger variety of Airbus aircraft within the fleet but in the mean time I can’t get them. If I still can’t get them by 2028 when we now have to return those [leased] aircraft I’ll replace them with 737s.”
![Ryanair Lauda Airbus A320 climbing out in front of cloudy sky](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-1228318138.jpg)
Ryanair Extends Airbus A320 Leases In Favour Of All Boeing Fleet
The Airbus A320 leases might be prolonged by 4 years until 2028.
Why not replace the A320s?
Operating a smaller fleet of a distinct aircraft type would appear to go against the Ryanair playbook. It adds complexity and price to the operation. For instance, not only must you construct out an extra stock of spare parts, but you then also need more employees trained on that specific aircraft type.
Photo: Photofex_AUT | Shutterstock.com
Ryanair acquired its smaller sub-fleet of Airbus A320s when it invested in, then fully acquired, Lauda. Swapping them for the Boeing 737 family could be a value and a hassle as the present A320 crew would must be retrained. It seems as if that is what O’Leary is hoping to avoid, with the airline veteran remarking,
“I don’t desire to need to retrain all of the Lauda pilots and the cabin crew from Airbus onto 737s. I’d much prefer to get more A320s or A312s.”
Ryanair’s only problem is that Airbus A320 family slots are already accounted for, extending far into the long run, and recent aircraft from lessors are significantly costlier.
![Ryanair Group - new Boeing 737 8-200](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ryanair-group-new-boeing-737-8-200.jpg)
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What do you make of Michael O’Leary’s comments? Should the Ryanair Group have more Airbus A320 family aircraft? Tell us what you think that and why within the comments!