Image courtesy of Boeing

A tweet by Woodys Aeroimages on 31 October revealed Boeing commenced production of the first Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX 200 with the wing/body join position in final assembly. It will become the first airline to operate the MAX 200 after it takes delivery of the first five aircraft in March and April next year.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said “The Max 200 aircraft, the game changer, have 4 percent more seats [compared with its 189-seat Boeing 737-800s] and a 16 percent lower fuel consumption per seat. These will drive very significant unit cost gains for us over the next five or six years.”

The carrier plans to take delivery of 42 aircraft between August 2019 and March 2020. The MAX 200 will account for approximately 10% of their fleet in the fiscal year through March 2020.

In Ryanair’s annual SEC 20F file the airline stated “The new aircraft will be used on new and existing routes to grow Ryanair’s business.

The basic price (equivalent to a standard list price for an aircraft of this type) for each of the Boeing 737-MAX-200 series aircraft is approximately US$102 million and the basic price will be increased for certain “buyer-furnished” equipment, amounting to approximately US$1.6 million per new aircraft, which Ryanair has asked Boeing to purchase and install on each of the new aircraft”.

The SEC Filing further added “Boeing has granted Ryanair certain price concessions as part of the 2014 Boeing Contract. As a result, the “effective price” (the purchase price of the new aircraft net of discounts received from Boeing) of each new aircraft will be significantly below the basic price mentioned above. The effective price applies to all new aircraft due for delivery from Spring 2019.”

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 4 November 2018 All Rights Reserved