Ryanair has placed a firm order for 75 of Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft. This is the largest commitment for the aircraft type in 2020, a year in which Boeing has lost more orders than it has gained.
The Irish low-cost carrier has again opted for the 737 MAX 200, or as Boeing now likes to call it, the 737-8-200. It is a higher density variant of the Boeing 737 MAX 8, fitting more seats while sacrificing on legroom and comfort. Ryanair will configure the type with a total of 197 seats.
It already had a total of 135 737 MAX aircraft on order, along with 75 more options. Unclear is, whether today’s announcement is a conversion of these options into firm orders or if it is a new order. Regardless, the 75 signed aircraft bring Ryanair’s total for the MAX to 210. Deliveries are due to begin in 2021, once Europe’s aviation authorities have re-certified the troubled aircraft type for commercial flight operations.
The airline is one of the very few companies that have signed for 737 MAX since the worldwide grounding in March 2019. Over the course of 2020, many companies even decided to cancel their commitments, partly due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.
Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
