Ryanair’s Huge Boeing News

Ryanair has received a huge boost in the delivery of 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing over the last two weeks.

Bloomberg reports that the European budget carrier has received as many as 10 new Boeing 737 MAX jets in the past 10 days alone.

The 10 aircraft are hugely crucial for Ryanair as they enter the 2025/26 winter schedule. Still, after lengthy delays have impacted the airline’s ability to operate a schedule it would like to have.

Ryanair also describes the rapid handover of these 737 MAX jets in quick succession as a pace that is quite frankly not something it is used to, with so many in such a short space of time, something it has never experienced before.

Thanks to this surge, Ryanair is also now better positioned to meet the summer 2026 peak season with the number of aircraft it would ideally have, a concern it has been addressing due to the Boeing delays.

The surge also comes as Boeing nears the all-important milestone that’ll see its monthly production rate cap increase to 42 units, up from the 38 that has been in place since the beginning of 2024 following a door blowout incident.

Recent reporting on this matter suggests that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is poised to give the green light as early as this month, further increasing the likelihood of progress in 2026 with continued efforts.

Just last month, the FAA expressed caution about the increase in production of the MAX and instead liaised with Boeing over possible obstacles that could arise if it proceeded with the approved increase, to prevent the worst-case scenario.

Ryanair’s Boeing Frustrations

Receiving 10 aircraft in as many days represents a change of heart of the Ryanair of old, which often saw its chief executive, Michael O’Leary, be outspoken about the obstacles.

Ryanair’s relationship with Boeing has been one of love and hate over the last decade, driven by the numerous quality issues and controversies that have plagued the American planemaker.

That anger has also been driven by significant delays in acquiring new Boeing aircraft from the MAX program, which were meant to be integral to Ryanair’s development across the 2020s.

These delays have strained the relationship between Boeing and Ryanair over recent years, with O’Leary often being outspoken about the far from favourable situation the airline was frequently put in by the planemaker.

Those frustrations many feel are understandable, given that the airline relies heavily on being an all-Boeing operator and also operates in a highly competitive space.

Simply put, being without aircraft that are crucial to renewal and growth ambitions can lead to financial pain resulting from a loss in market share as other competitor airlines stride ahead.

Despite this, in August, the airline finally began praising the planemaker with renewed confidence and a shifting tone, as it noticed visible improvements in quality and output rates.

Those praises have now resulted in ten deliveries in a matter of ten days, a massive jump and a solid result for the airline, which has remained a key customer of Boeing even throughout some of the most trying times since its inception.