Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary warns that ticket prices may increase by up to 10% during the summer season due to delayed Boeing plane deliveries.
The number of aircraft available on the market is limited at the moment, which, according to O'Leary, will make it challenging for European airlines to meet travel demand during peak season.
Ryanair had originally planned to increase the number of passengers it transported to 183.5 million between April 2024 and March 2025, up from 205 million in the previous 12-month period.
However, "with fewer planes, we may have to reduce this number maybe from 205 to 200 million passengers," O'Leary stated. He added that uncertainty still exists as the actual number could be slightly below 200 million. This likely reduction in growth this year could trigger higher ticket prices across Europe over the summer.
Up to 10%
Prices already rose by 17% in summer 2023. "We don't expect such an increase this year," the CEO continued. "We're budgeting for a rise of 5 to 10%, which seems reasonable to me. It could be more, it could be less – we really don't know."
Ryanair has ordered 57 new planes from Boeing, which should have been delivered by March next year. However, the airline anticipates receiving only 40 to 45 aircraft by then.
O'Leary noted that Boeing is under scrutiny by the American aviation regulator after a panel of a Boeing 737 Max 9 fell in mid-flight earlier this year. He expects that Ryanair and other low-cost airlines will receive "modest compensation" from the manufacturer given the impact of delays on profits.
