Ryanair has been forced to cancel a host of flights later this winter as it looks set to receive fewer new aircraft from manufacturer Boeing than expected.
It announced on Thursday (September 28) that it is making “a number of winter 2023 schedule reductions as a direct result of Boeing aircraft delivery delays during the September to December period”.
The budget carrier had expected to receive 27 aircraft between September to December but now expects to receive only 14 aircraft between October and December.
It is said this was because of production delays at the Spirit Fuselage facility in Wichita, combined with Boeing’s repair and delivery delays in Seattle.
The airline said is working with Boeing to try to accelerate deliveries in the January to May 2024 period so that it can enter the summer 2024 peak travel season with all 57 new Boeing aircraft deliveries as expected.
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The cuts mean Ryanair is reducing the number of Charleroi-based aircraft by three; Dublin-based aircraft by two; and will reduce by five aircraft across four Italian bases, including Bergamo, Naples and Pisa.
There will also be aircraft reductions in East Midlands, Porto and Cologne airports.
The airline apologised for these “unavoidable” reductions, adding: “Ryanair has no spare aircraft this winter as scheduled maintenance is necessary across our full fleet of over 550 aircraft in order to have them all serviceable for its largest ever summer 2024 schedule.”
Michael O’Leary, group chief executive at Ryanair, said: “We are working closely with Boeing and their supplier, Spirit, to minimise these delivery delays.
“It is deeply regrettable that production problems in Wichita, and in Seattle, have yet again delayed Boeing’s contracted deliveries to Ryanair this winter.
“We are in regular dialogue with Boeing, and our primary objective is to ensure we get delivery of all 57 contracted B737 aircraft before the end of May 2024, so that Ryanair’s fleet can grow to over 600 aircraft for what will be our largest ever summer flight programme.
“These flight cancellations will take effect from the end of October, and will be communicated to all affected passengers by email over the coming days.
“Passengers will be offered re-accommodation on alternative flights or full refunds as they so wish. We apologise sincerely to passengers for any inconvenience caused by these delivery delays this winter.
“At this early date, we do not expect these delivery delays will materially affect our full year traffic target of 183.5 million, but if the delays worsen or extend further into the January to March 2024 period, we may have to revisit this figure and possibly adjust it slightly downward.”