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DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ryanair expects to be five to ten aircraft short for its peak 2024 summer season due to Boeing delivery delays, likely forcing it to revise down its traffic growth, Chief Executive Michael O'Leary told the Financial Times on Tuesday.
Ryanair was due to have 57 Boeing MAX 8200 planes delivered by the end of April, and O'Leary said the delays mean it will likely carry 200 million passengers for the financial year beginning in April versus the 205 million previously forecast.
The low cost carrier made cuts to its winter schedule due to the ongoing delays that forced it to lower its traffic forecast for the year to March 2024 to 183.5 million passengers from 185 million, representing year-on-year growth of 9%.
"We were supposed to have 27 aircraft delivered prior to Christmas, we finished up getting 11. We're supposed to have 57 aircraft delivered to us by the end of April, and we think we'd be lucky to get 50 by the end of June," O'Leary said in an interview with the Financial Times.
"So we're going to be left five, seven, maybe 10 aircraft short for the peak summer season this year."
"It costs us, if you're talking being down 5 million on 205 million passengers . . . probably two, two and a half per cent of profits," he added.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded 171 MAX 9 planes on Saturday after a panel called a door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines flight not long after taking off from a Portland, Oregon, airport on Friday.
While Ryanair operates and orders different variants of the 737 MAX from the type grounded, O'Leary said Boeing and rival planemaker Airbus "need to significantly improve quality control" as they seek to catch up on production delays.
The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, exclusively uses Boeing 737s for its mainline fleet and is one of Boeing's largest customers.
"The 737 is fine. But it doesn't need these kind of short-term reputational issues," O'Leary said in the interview.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Tom Hogue, Kirsten Donovan)
