The 737 MAX crisis has continued to create turbulence at Boeing. In addition to the security dimension, which is undoubtedly the most important, the American manufacturer must face the discontent of the companies. Never shy of words when it comes to putting pressure on a competitor or a partner, Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, castigated the “debacle” of Boeing which suffered a series of quality problems and production delays. The boss of the Irish company now intends to obtain financial compensation for this situation which has led to flight cancellations.
Michael O’Leary said: “Boeing and Airbus contracts take into account excusable delays, but if we drill holes in the wrong place and that causes delays, is that excusable or not? We feel very strongly that this is inexcusable” before adding that he thought “obtain modest compensation from Boeing”. These comments, reported by AFP, were made during a round table organized Friday with journalists at the low-cost airline’s headquarters in Dublin.
The boss of Ryanair did not directly attack the 737 MAX and its qualities, which would be unwelcome for the company which ordered no less than 360 firm examples plus 150 options. It hopes to operate more than 500 examples within 10 years and already had 136 in the fleet at the end of 2023. “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the device…but a poor approach to quality controls”insisted Michael O’Leary.
Indirect impacts
Ryanair has not ordered a 737 MAX 9 and is therefore not directly affected by the incident that occurred at the beginning of January with the loss of a door stopper by an Alaska Airlines aircraft, which led to a suspension of flights for part of the fleet. But this event delayed deliveries for the entire range, including the 737 MAX 8-200 operated by the low-cost airline. It now expects to receive deliveries of 40 or 45 devices for the summer instead of the 50 expected.
“We’re pretty sure we’ll get between 30 and 40. We’re reasonably sure we’ll get between 40 and 45. And now we’re a lot less sure we’ll get between 45 and 50,” Michael O said ‘Leary.
According to Reuters, this could lead the company to reduce its program this summer. The company also revised its traffic forecasts slightly downward for its 2023-2024 financial year to 183.5 million passengers on the occasion of the presentation of the results of its third quarter at the end of January, against 185 million previously.
Frequent delays
This is not the first time that Ryanair has denounced Boeing delays. The company systematically provides an update on its delivery forecasts in its interim results announcements, and regularly denounces uncertainties due to production problems at Boeing and their impact on its ramp-up.
This should continue for some time. In view of the repeated quality problems experienced by the 737 MAX program, Boeing has decided to freeze its ramp-up for the moment. After having struggled to stabilize its production after the health crisis, then to reach the average rate of 38 devices per month, the manufacturer is giving up for the moment on planning towards rate 50. This objective, planned for 2025-2026 , is not abandoned however.
This should also not facilitate the certification of the 737 MAX 10, of which Ryanair ordered 150 copies last May (plus 150 in options). This has been dragging on for years, with reinforced control by the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), following the known deviations in the approval of the first 737 MAX models which led to two fatal accidents.