By Corina Pons
MADRID (Reuters) -Major Boeing customer Ryanair said on Wednesday it was confident the U.S. planemaker would get permission to boost the monthly production rate of its flagship 737 model to 42 in October and then 48 by March or April next year.
The Irish airline, Boeing’s largest European customer, has had to repeatedly cut growth forecasts due to delays at Boeing, which is working to stabilise production after a mid-air panel blowout on a new 737 MAX in January 2024 exposed widespread production quality and safety problems.
Ryanair Group Chief Executive Michael O’Leary, whose team holds regular meetings with Boeing management, said he was “fairly confident” that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration would sign off on an increase in monthly production from 38 to 42 in October.
RYANAIR ‘PRETTY CONFIDENT’ ABOUT PROGRESS AT BOEING
“Will the FAA then allow them to go to rate 48 next March, April, which is … the next big jump? We’re pretty confident that will happen,” he told Reuters in an interview.
The FAA capped 737 MAX production at 38 per month in early 2024 after the panel blowout. It said on September 26 that Boeing had not sought a rate increase, but that if it did, onsite FAA safety inspectors would conduct extensive reviews.
Boeing said earlier that month that it did not foresee any supply chain problems preventing it from lifting monthly 737 MAX output to 42 by year-end.
The other big question facing Boeing is the timing of regulatory approval for the new 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10 aircraft. Ryanair has 150 firm orders for the MAX 10.
“Will they get the MAX 7 and MAX 10 certified in 2026? … Boeing are telling us they’re now very confident that certification will take place.”
While welcoming recent progress at Boeing, O’Leary said there were no guarantees.
“So we’re pretty confident, but it could still be disrupted,” he said.
(Reporting by Corina Pons. Writing by Conor Humphries. Editing by David Latona and Mark Potter)
