Toby Nicol, Aspect Consulting (former head of corporate affairs and director of communications at easyJet)
Ryanair is not everyone’s favourite company, but it should be congratulated on the announcement that it plans to work with Chinese aircraft manufacturer, Comac, to develop a new aircraft type.
The Irish airline is living embodiment that “low-cost airlines fly Boeings” – a marketing slogan dreamed up by the boys in Seattle to corner the lowcost market.
The three biggest lowcost airlines certainly gave Boeing all the ammunition it needed – as they all operated the 737 family exclusively. This was the case until easyJet first broke the cycle in 2002 with a big order from Airbus that has underpinned the European company’s advancement in the sector.
Ryanair, realising that its Boeing-only fleet severely hampered its negotiating position for expensive new aircraft, withdrew from all discussions with Boeing last year.
This was initially perceived as a negotiating ploy, but the Comac announcement puts that decision in a different light – and it would have profound implications for the big two manufacturers.
For years, airlines have been hamstrung by the reluctance of Boeing and Airbus to develop a successor to the 737 and A320 families of narrow-body aircraft.
These are mostly used for carrying 150-180 people on short distances, which is why they are particularly beloved of the big low-cost airlines with their short flights.
Despite the economic and environmental pressure to produce a new aircraft type that allows airlines to better deal with the reality of oil at $120 per barrel, Toulouse and Seattle have steadfastly refused to play ball.
Economically, that stance makes sense. Developing an entire new family of aircraft is a lengthy ordeal that is fraught with operational, financial and reputational risk.
Boeing and Airbus have both had their fair share of new-product disasters recently; experiences from the A380 superjumbo to the 787 Dreamliner mean both companies approach the develop of new aircraft types looking like a recalcitrant schoolboy being dragged to school after the holidays.
After years of amortising the development costs of their short-haul offerings, both Airbus and Boeing are making good profits from running the production lines for the 737 and A320. With no apparent move from the other side of this cosy duopoly, they could continue to do this for years; which is what worries the airlines.
No amount of private or public pressure seems to have had an impact. EasyJet attempted to embarrass the big two into making a move in 2007 when it produced its ecoJet concept – a radically different design but based wholly on technology already in the pipeline. It could have flown within five years given a strong enough commitment.
But with Boeing and Airbus resembling the (un)wise monkeys, the market needed a disruptive third force to make the move first. That is why Ryanair’s deal with Comac could be so exciting. It has sensibly given itself five years to develop a new aircraft that can seat up to 200 passengers and would take advantage of much of the new technology that is available.
If successful, Ryanair gets the economic advantage of being the launch customer of a new fuel-efficient aircraft type and Comac immediately forces itself into the reckoning as a global player.
The pressure is now on Boeing to react. Does it re-open negotiations with Ryanair at a lower price? Or respond to market forces by developing a new generation of short-haul aircraft which Airbus would be forced to copy.
Not for the first time, Ryanair has managed to wrong-foot the big boys.