Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) is negotiating an order with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for fifty A321s and a further fifty options for its Austrian subsidiary LaudaMotion (Vienna), CEO Michael O'Leary told Reuters.
"With Airbus, we are talking about the possibility of A321s for Laudamotion but that is at the very initial stages. I would not see any point in having an order if it is less than 100 aircraft - fifty firm and fifty options," O'Leary said.
He did not specify whether the group was interested in current generation A321-200s or A321-200neo.
The Irish LCC intends to stick to Airbus narrowbodies for LaudaMotion as it gives it additional flexibility for potential takeovers in the future.
"In the future, as there are competition divestments or other M&A opportunities in Europe, some will be on the Airbus side and some will be on the Boeing side and we want to be able to do both," O'Leary added.
LaudaMotion currently operates twelve A320-200s and three A321-200s. By the peak of summer 2019, it plans to have twenty-one A320s, as all three A321s will return to Lufthansa Group. The carrier additionally wet-leases B737-800 aircraft from Ryanair.
O'Leary also said that Ryanair itself will remain an all-Boeing operator and would be interested in B737-10s if there were better financing opportunities available on the market.
"That doesn’t exist at the moment. The next likely follow-on order with Boeing would be the MAX 10 aircraft. We need to go up to 230 seats," O'Leary said.
The Irish LCC currently operates 437 B737-800s and a single B737-700. It is due to take the first of 135 firm-ordered B737-8-200s shortly. Ryanair is one of only two airlines in the world, besides VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi Noi Bai International), which has ordered the 200-seater version of the MAX 8.
