The boss of the Irish airline Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, has criticized the "
debacle
" of the American manufacturer Boeing, from which he wants to obtain financial compensation for flight cancellations caused by its quality problems and production delays.
The “ low cost
” carrier
also warns of price increases of up to 10% to expect this summer, in an environment of increasing costs.
During a roundtable with journalists at the low-cost airline's headquarters in Dublin on Friday, Michael O'Leary said the recent Boeing incident had led to production delays impacting deliveries to airlines, including Ryanair.
At the beginning of January, a door came off the cabin of a Boeing 737 MAX 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight.
The incident left only a few minor injuries.
The FAA subsequently suspended the flights of 171 of the 218 737 MAX 9 planes already delivered.
A preliminary report from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that four bolts supposed to secure the door were missing.
Michael O'Leary said Ryanair would ask Boeing for financial compensation: "
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
” and “
I think we will get modest compensation from Boeing
.”
“
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the device (...) but a poor approach to quality controls
,” insisted Michael O'Leary.
These difficulties have slowed down the pace of production of the devices concerned.
Ryanair now expects to receive delivery of 40 or 45 aircraft for the summer instead of the expected 50.
Also read: A Boeing 757-200 loses a wing tip in mid-flight, the aircraft is forced to make an emergency landing
“
rates rising across Europe this summer
”
Boeing's problems, combined with the war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement that broke out in early October, led to flight cancellations, so much so that the airline reduced its goal of carrying 185 million passengers this fiscal year. tax which will be completed in March, to 183.5 million passengers.
The outspoken boss warned on Friday that this pressure on passenger numbers is expected to continue for the current calendar year and result in “
rising fares across Europe this summer
”.
According to him, Ryanair prices increased by an average of 23% last summer, and he estimates that this year it should increase by a further “
5 to 10%
”.
Ryanair declared at the end of January that it had seen its costs soar during its delayed third quarter, in particular the costs of kerosene, salaries and airport taxes, weighing on its profit and leading the company to revise downwards its annual profit forecast. for 2023/2024.
The action rose 0.59% to 20.57 euros on the Dublin Stock Exchange around 09:45 GMT.