Ryanair making little headway on plane orders
29.10.09
In a sign that it is making little headway in its attempts to secure a good deal on a new plane order, Ryanair said yesterday that it will cancel existing aircraft orders with Boeing if the US plane manufacturer does not cut the asking price for a new batch of planes. It also called on rival Airbus to take its requirements 'more seriously'.
Negotiations with Boeing over a contract for as many as 200 short-haul aircraft for delivery after 2013 when its current orders run out are progressing ‘slowly,’ Ryanair Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Leary said yesterday at a briefing in Hamburg. The budget airline may respond by shelving the requirement and scrapping and deferring some current contracts, he said.
Ryanair had a fleet of 199 Boeing 737-800 jetliners as of July 31, with another 113 planes on order for delivery over the next three years, equivalent to 5 percent of the 737 backlog. Mr O'Leary said: ‘There would certainly be cancellations. We're only committed to whoever sells us the lowest-price airplanes. We're not wasting any more time.’ He added that Airbus SAS, which regards Ryanair as a Boeing customer, should take his airline's requirements ‘more seriously’ and enter talks.
He appears to be struggling to play the plane manufacturers off against one another, as he has done in the past, to secure the best deal. Ryanair having shook hands on a deal then walked away from Airbus in the past, are not getting best deals from them, which means Boeing are not forced to discount either. It reminds us of the story of the boy who cried wolf.
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