Ryanair: Plane shortage could lead to 10 percent ticket price hike
Michael O'Leary, CEO of Irish economy airline Ryanair, said that the price of plane tickets could go up by 10 percent this summer because of Boeing's difficulties.
"We're doing our budgets based on a fare increase of 5-10 percent, which to me feels kind of reasonable. It could be higher than that, it could be lower than that, we don't really know," O'Leary said.
Ryanair buys its planes from U.S. company Boeing, which has been plagued by problems recently. Over 170 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes were grounded in early January after an Alaska Airlines aircraft lost its door mid flight due to loose screws. U.S. regulators are keeping Boeing from expediting production as they want the company to sort out its quality control procedures.
The Ryanair CEO also said that Boeing needs to solve its problems. The airline was hoping to take delivery of 57 new 737 planes this year but could only see 35 delivered as things stand, The Telegraph reported.
Boeing's press representative said that disruptions in delivery are possible, while the company is working to improve the quality of its 737 planes.
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Editor: Karl Kivil, Marcus Turovski
