Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Kenneth Jacobs says the Irish LCC has no interest in the long-range B737 MAX Boeing (BOE, Washington National) is considering developing.
Speaking about Ryanair's now rejected transatlantic plans, Jacobs told Flightchic news that the aircraft's seating capacity would not fit the airline’s needs.
“Long range? No. I was in Seattle last week so I saw the long-range variant of the Boeing MAX. Yes, while they can do it, we still don’t want to. It doesn’t change our thinking. The longest route we’d do would be a Glasgow International to Tenerife Sur route,” he said. “While the variant of the MAX can travel further, it can travel further when you have the cabin configured to 160 passengers, 60 in business and 100 in economy. Our MAX would be carrying 197.”
Ryanair currently has 100 high-density B737 MAX 200s on order from the Americans with options for 100 more. The 197-seaters will begin arriving from 2019 onwards.
In 2014, Jacobs said the Irish LCC had come up with a suitable model for North American flights using either A350 or B787 machinery. The project, however, was constrained by a lack of available airframes. Then, a year later, Ryanair's board officially repudiated all previous announcements linking it to the launch of transatlantic flights.
